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WEHMAN’S 



A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON 


MIND READING, 

According to Stuart Cumberland and the late Washington Irving Bishop. 

■VEOSrTFliniiOQXJISM 

As Practiced by Valentine Vox and others. 

SLiEIGHT OF HAND. 

Secrets and Methods of Performing Many Marvelous Mysteries, such as 

have Astonished the Public of all Nations. 

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taMMEM 


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any person, and make him, while under 
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blood characters, as performed by Foster 
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and MORRIS N. and CHESLSY Y. YGUNtf 


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MAGICAL MYSTERIES. 


CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS. 

The first rule to be borne in mind is: Do not tell the audience beforehand 
what you propose to do. By a little thought you will see the virtue of this 
maxim. To begin with, there isn’t anything superhuman about modern magic, 
and as the intelligent portion of your spectators know this, they will be unceas- 
ingly on the lookout for the modus operandi , and if they do not know what to 
expect, they are less likely to discover the means by which you accomplish a 
mysterious result. 

Another maxim, which is only an addendum to the above, is to avoid perform- 
ing at the same exhibition , a certain trick twice. It may be easily noticed that 
if a feat has already been performed, and you propose to do it again the same 
way, the observers, knowing what result you intended to accomplish, are very 
likely to “put two and two together” and discover at least a portion of your 
tecret. 

The artistic effect as well as the surprise, are not half as great upon repetition. 

The “patter” or talk which accompanies the performance of a trick should 
be carefully rehearsed until it flows from the lips without hardly a thought on 
the part of the conjurer. In order to aid the amateur, various speeches are 
given in following chapters, accompanying a few of the leading tricks. Profes- 
sionals generally construct their own speeches, preferring not to imitate others 
in this respect. 

Many tricks can be performed with simple objects, such as coins, cards or 
handkerchiefs, which are manouvered in a deceptive way by the dexterity 
of the operator. Other tricks require considerable apparatus. The outfit of a 
prominent magician usually costs from two to ten thousand dollars. Wealthy 
amateurs, specially in England, sometimes procure paraphernalia costing 
several hundred dollars. While this volume is not written in the interest of any 
manufacturers of magical supplies, it is nevertheless true, that only in rare in- 
stances can a novice make apparatus for himself. Even if he succeeds, the ex- 
pense will be greater than he could have purchased the same thing for, had he 
gone to a regular dealer in such goods. However, great care should be exercised 
in selecting the dealer as there are numerous alleged magic supply firms who 
are nothing more nor less than imposters. The first article that comes under 
our consideration is 

THE MYSTIC WAND. 

The wand is usually mad© of wood, and is twelve to fifteen inches in 
length. It should be made as light as possible and although the color is sub- 
ject to the fancy of the owner, it is usually black. Some of the greatest of 
modern wonder workers have recently adopted an all nickel plated outfit, and 
the wand is included. There are glass wands sometimes used, but I do not 
recommend them because even the best of performers occasionally drops his 
emblem of mystic power, and under such circumstances, a glass wand doesn’t 


GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS. 


d 

stand much of a chance of remaining intact. There are various mechanical 
wands used for certain tricks which are described later. 

A person having but a slight insight of the secrets of conjuring might suppose 
that the wand is a mere affectation, and so it is, in some instances, yet it is a 
necessary adjunct to a magical performance. I have known a professional con- 
jurer, (who shall be nameless,) who would no more think of going on the stage 
without his wand than he would without his coat. The wand affords a plausible 
pretext for various movements which might otherwise be regarded with suspic- 
ion. For example, if you wish to hold a coin in your hand for some time, it will 
not be noticed if you grasp the wand in the same hand. The use of the wand 
should be cultivated, by all means. In going to a table to take up or lay down 
the wand, an opportunity comes whereby one article can be substituted for 
another when your back is turned. If you were not using this mystic stick, 
there might be no excuse for turning your back to the audience, and your sub- 
stitutions would be clumsy or suspicious. We next refer to 

TEE MAGICIAN’S CLOTHES. 

All professional magicians wear, upon the stage, clothes which are made for 
that purpose. The usual style of dress suit is employed, the only alteration 
being in the pockets. Instead of the small coat tail pockets, there are two large 
pockets, one on each side, with openings across the tops. These openings should 
be made at such a height that when the arm falls naturally any article which 
the hand holds may be easily dropped in one of the “ profondes ,” so called. 

Another set of pockets, known as “ pochettes ” is made in the pantaloons at 
the thighs. These apertures are large enough to contain a pack of cards, hand- 
kerchief or wooden egg, and are in such a position that they are concealed by 
the tails of the coat. DeKolta and Kellar have recently produced tricks wherein 
it has been found necessary to use small “ pochettes ” on the sleeves, just at the 
crease made by the inside of the elbow. These are used only for small silk hand- 
kerchiefs or a flag. It will also be found desirable to have a band of elastic, 
about an inch wide, stitched around the lower edge of the vest inside. This will 
hold a small article such as a handkerchief and is first rate for effecting substi- 
tutions. Any tailor can make these arrangements in a dress suit. 

MAGIC TABLES. 

Almost every good trick requires the use of a “Wizard’s Table” made espec- 
ially for the purpose. I will not refer here to the elaborately constructed furni- 
ture of traps and pistons, but to a simple table which will serve most purposes. 
I describe the idea; the expense depends upon the taste of the performer. The 
_ top of the principal table should be about two by two and a half feet, actual 
] depth about seven inches, legs of any style. The top of the table should be cov- 
ered by a cloth and around the edge should be a line of plush, or other material 
about eight inches deep, with a fringe. Instead of a drawer on the back, there 
should be a shelf, such as outlined here: 


This shelf is known as the “eermnte” and is the wherewithal of the whole 
affair. If side tables are employed, they may be built smaller, with single legs 
and a small shelf at the back, the tops being perhaps more shallow than on the 
centre table. 

The height of the tables should depend upon that of the performer. They 
should be made so that when he stands behind one and drops his arm naturally, 


SIMPLE TRICKS WITH CARRS. t 

hi* hand can pick up, say, an egg from the shelf without Its being necessary for 
him to stoop. 

While the servante usually used is merely a wooden shelf covered with cloth, 
there are variations. Sometimes they are made of wire, at other times cloth 
cups are used, the choice of these depending much upon the repertoire of the 
conjurer. Another application of the servante is to the back of a chair, where 
it is frequently used with satisfaction in such feats as the production of articled 
from a hat. 


CHAPTER H. 

SIMPLE TRICKS WITH CARDS. 

The magic of cards is the most popular, and usually most interesting. Playing 
cards are commonly known; in themselves are innocent, but in the hands of a 
conjurer or card sharper they seem to become * ‘possessed of the devil. ” Many of 
the feats require considerable skill, and in some instances specially prepared ap- 
paratus. I will devote this chapter to such as can be performed without much 
practice and under almost any circumstances where a pack of ordinary cards 
can be produced. It is very essential that the reader study the instructions very 
carefully. Do not undertake to produce even the simplest illusion until you 
have first practiced enough to fully understand it. 

UNITED BY A SINGLE CUT. 

Take the four kings, (or four other cards,) and display them fan-wise, con- 
cealing at the same time two court cards behind the second card in your hand. 
The audience being satisfied that the cards are the four kings and none other, 
fold them together and place them on top of the pack. Ask the audience to 
notice that you place the cards in different parts of the pack. 

Take the top card, which being a king, you may display without apparent in- 
tention, and place it at the bottom. Take the next card, which should be one of 
those which was concealed, the spectators supposing that to be a king, place it 
in the middle of the pack and the next in a like manner, in a different place in 
the pack. Take the fourth card, which being actually a king, you may show 
and place back on top of the pack. You have now, one king at the bottom and 
three at the top, while the audience suppose them to have been distributed 
through the pack and of course surprised when the cards are cut to find the four 
kings together. 

It is advisable to use knaves or queens for the extra cards as they are less 
easily distinguished, should one of your audience catch a chance glimpse at 
their faces. 

TO DISCOVER THE VALUE OF CERTAIN CARDS ON THE TABLE. 

| Use a piquet pack of thirty-two cards in performing this trick. Invite one of 
your audience to select privately any four cards and to place them face down- 
ward on the table, seperately. Then counting an ace as eleven, a court card as 
ten, and any other card according to the number of its spots, to place upon each 
of these four a sufficient number of cards to make the added value of each 
amount to fifteen. (It must be remembered that value is applied only to the 
first four cards— those placed upon them counting only as one without regard 
to their spots.) Meanwhile you can retire and when the four packets are com- 
plete, return to the table and observe how many cards are left over, not being 
required to complete the four packs. To this number mentally add thirty -two!. 


8 


SIMPLE TUTORS WITH CARPS. 


the total will give you the value of the four lowest cards calculated as above. 

You should not let your audience perceive that you count the remaining cards 
as it will give them an idea that the trick depends on some mathematical cal- 
culation. 

You may call attention to the fact that you do not look at the remaining cards, 
and in so doing throw them on the table carelessly. They will fall sufficiently 
scattered for you to count them unobserved. 

CARDS CHANGE PLACES AT COMMAND. 

Exhibit fan-wise in one hand the four kings and in the other hand the four 
eights. Hold the four eights in such a manner that the lower centre spot on the 
foremost card is concealed by the fingers. 

The same spot on the other cards being concealed by card before it, so the» 
four cards appear to the audience equally alike, sevens. Place the pack face 
down on the table calling attention to the fact that you hold in one hand the 
four kings, and in the other the four sevens, (really the eights.) Place the sup- 
posed sevens on top of the pack and the kings on top of the supposed sevens. 
The real sevens being on top of the kings are now on top of the pack. 

Deal off the four top cards carefully, face down, on the table, calling atten- 
tion to the fact that you are dealing off the four kings and ask one of the audi- 
ence to place his hand on the cards, holding them firmly so that they cannot 
be seen. Repeat this with the next four cards, which are really the kings. 

Ask the persons under whose hands they are if they are sure the cards are 
still there, and on this assurance to that effect command the cards to change, 
which they will be found to have done. 

TO NAME SUCCESSIVELY ALL CARDS IN PACE. 

To perform this trick it is necessary to have a whist pack, (52 cards,) the cards 
of which have been arranged according to a certain order previously. There 
are several forms used, and the following one is simple and easily committed to 
memory: 

“Eight kings threatened to save 
Ninety-five ladies for one sick knave.” 

These words suggest as you will easily see, eight, king, three, ten, two, seven, 
nine, five, queen, four, one, six, knave. You must also have determined 
the suits which should be red and black alternately, 6ay hearts, spades, dia- 
monds, clubs. For your own convenience sort the pack into the four suits, 
then arrange the cards as follows: Lay on the table, face upwards, the eight of 
hearts, on this place the king of spades, on this the three of diamonds, then ten 
of clubs, then two of diamonds, and so on until the whole pack is exhausted. 

The cards must be arranged in this way beforehand, and you must make this 
the first of a series of tricks or what is a better way, as it gives less idea of ^re- 
arrangement, have two packs of the same pattern, and at a favorable opportun- 
ity exchange the pack which you have been using for the prepared pack. 

Spread the cards and allow one to be drawn, at the same time glance quickly 
at the next card above the one that has been drawn, which we will suppose to 
be the five of hearts. You will remember that five is followed by ladies (queen) 
you will then know that the card drawn was the queen. You also know that 
clubs follow hearts, therefore the card drawn was the queen of clubs. Name it 
and request that it be replaced. 

Ask some one to cut the cards and again repeat the trick, but this time pass 
all the cards that were above the card drawn to the bottom of the pack. This is 
equivalent to cutting the pack at that particular card, and you can then r,any* 


SIMPLE TRICKS WITH CARDS. V 

tho cards that follow, taking them one by one and showing that they are named 
correctly. 

TO TELL WHETHER THE NUMBER IS ODD OR EVEN WHEN CARDS ARE CUT. 

This is another trick that is performed by the prepared pack of cards Just de- 
scribed. Notice whether the card at the bottom of the pack is red or black. 
i^Place the pack on the table and ask some one to cut the cards, explaining that 
you will tell by the weight of them whether the number is odd or even. Take 
the cut, that is the cards taken from the top of the pack, balance them carefully 
in your hand, notice the bottom card. 

If it is the same color as the bottom or lowest card in the other portion of the 
pack the number is even. If it is the opposite color, the number is odd. This 
trick though a good one is comparatively little known even among professionals. 

TO MAKE A CARD VANISH PROM THE PACK AND BE POUND IN A PERSON’S POCKET. 

Slightly moisten the back of your left hand. Offer the pack to be shuffled. 
Place it face downward on the table, and request one of the company to look at 
the top card. Request him to place the back of his left hand upon the cards, and 
press heavily upon it with his right. 

In order that he may the better comprehend your meaning, place your own 
hands as described, and request him to imitate you. When you remove your 
left hand, the back being moistened, the card will stick to it. Put your hands 
carelessly behind you, and with your right hand remove the card. All wil 
crowd round to see the trick. 

Pretend to be very particular that the person who places his hand on the card 
shall do so in precisely the right position. This will not only give you time, but 
will draw all eyes to his hands. Meanwhile watch your opportunity and slip the 
card into the tail pocket of one of the other spectators. Now say that you are 
about to command the top card, which all have seen and which is being held so 
tightly, to fly from the pack to the pocket of Mr. A., making the choice with ap- 
parent carelessness. 

On investigation it will be found that your order has been fulfilled. When 
practicable it is effective to slip the card into the pocket of the person holding 
the pack. 

SIMULATION OF MIND READING. 

The following described trick is so simple that it seems ridiculous to suppose 
any intelligent person could be deceived thereby, yet by it even some of the 
most scientific spectators have been puzzled, for instead of being above their 
comprehension, it is below it. 

Before commencing to operate, have placed at the back of the room a mirror, 
in such a position that, by standing in front of the spectators you can see your 
face therein. This is all the preparation necessary. The audienoe, of course, 
must not know that the mirror is there for your especial use. 

When you are ready to perform the feat, take a pack of cards and say to the 
spectators: “Now I propose to perform a feat which you may perhaps consider 
more wonderful than that of the greatest of mind readers. I will take these 
cards (here produce a pack of ordinary cards) and allow you to examine them. 
You will observe that there is no deception about them, being simply an ordi' 
nary pack of playing cards. With these cards I propose to show you how it is 
possible to see the faces of them, even though I do not see the faces. This is a 
paradox, but only one of the few that I propose to propound this evening. I 
will allow the cards to be thoroughly shuffled. I will next (after taking the 
pack) place these cards upon my forehead, facing yourselves. The first card 
is,” etc., etc. ** 


10 


SIMPLE CARD TRICKS FOR PARLORS. 


In order to read the cards, you, of course, merely glance into the mirror. Not- 
withstanding the secret is so simple, considerable tact should be used. For in- 
stance, instead of staring directly at the looking-glass (which is liable to lead to 
discovery of your method) you should roll your eyes in an absent-minded man- 
ner, to convey to all the idea that you are waiting for an impression upon your 
mind. In the course of the meandering of your gaze “take in’’ the reflection on 
the mirror, then continue to gaze for a moment or so before stating what the 
name of the card is. 

To complete the effect, it is desirable to make mistakes occasionally, saying| 
the card has six spoils' instead of four, or something of that sort. It is not best! 
to be too correct at all times, especially in a “fake” trick. When you have 
studied the principles of magic more thoroughly, you will have learned that it is 
advisable to cause the audience to think that you employ some entirely different 
process than that which you are really using. 


CHAPTER m. 

SIMPLE CARD TRICKS FOR PARLORS. 

The card sleights which are here described are more especially adapted for use 
in the parlor, or in the presence of a small party. They are not difficult to per- 
form, and if ordinary shrewdness is employed in performing, detection is no 
easy matter. Do not try to show one of these mysteries, no matter how easy it 
may seem, until you are sure that you understand it. 

A very surprising, and, to some, apparently supernatural feat is that of telling 
beforehand what cards will be selected from a pack, by those present, although 
they do not themselves know what cards they will take. Of course, the experi- 
enced conjurer who happens to read this, will at once remark that the trick is 
performed by forcing. It is true that surprising effects are attained by forcing, 
but the one described below is not done that way and requires but little skill. 

PREVISION WITH CARDS. 

To begin with, allow the pack of cards to be thoroughly shuffled. 

When the pack is returned to you, adroitly notice the value (suit and denomi- 
nation) of the bottom card, which we will suppose happens to be the four of 
spades. 

Now, with apparent carelessness, throw the cards face downward on a table 
and scatter them about with your fingers. However, you must not lose sight of 
the bottom card, and wherever your fingers may push it your eyes should follow 
also, in order that you may know exactly where it lies. The spectators, mean- 
while, are unaware of this knowledge on your part. 

Say to those present: “I will now present to you a mystery which is appar- 
ently very simple, yet to my mind is a profound problem. It is one of those 
mental wonders that cannot be readily understood, and the deeper we study into 
them the further we seem to be from the truth. You will therefore observe 
closely and see what you see.” 

You continue: “I have, as you probably noticed, allowed Mr. to shuffle 

the cards thoroughly and they have been scattered over this table at random. I 
shall allow five cards to be selected and I shall endeavor to name each one before 
it is taken up. In order that nobody’s attention may be detracted, I shall hold 
the cards taken up until the entire five have been selected. To prevent any mis- 
take, let some person write the names of cards upon a paper as they are called 
and see if I am correct.” 


SIMPLE CARD TRICKS FOR PARLORS. 


IS 


You will then remark: “I will now call for card*, one by one, and shall ask 
Mr. Brown (any person desired) to make the first selection. Mr. Brown, you will 
please find for me the four of spades, without turning the card over.” 

Naturally Mr. Brown smiles and says that such a thing is impossible. You ask 
him, however, to simply rest his fingers upon the back of any card his fancy 
may dictate. Having touched a card, you carefully draw it away from the 
table, making sure that its face cannot be seen. ±iold it in your hands, close to 
your body, in an easy, unsuspicious manner, just as if you were confident the 
four of spades had been selected. Let us suppose, however, that the card is 
seven of hearts. You remark: “I will next ask Mr. Jones to touch a card in the 
Bame manner as did Mr. Brown, but I predict beforehand that it will be the 
seven of hearts.” The card is tapped, and you pick it up, as before. Let us 
j suppose this second one is the ace of diamonds. If so, you ask Mr. Smith to 
touch a card, which you expect to be the ace of diamonds. This, you notice, 
happens to be the queen of hearts. You then ask Mr. Robinson to touch a card, 
'which you intend shall be queen of hearts, and after he does so you secretly as- 
certain that it is the eight of clubs. 

Up to the present moment, four cards have been chosen. For the fifth time 
you are to have a card selected “by chance.” You decide, however, to save 
time, that you will try your own luck and see if you can pick out the eight of 
clubs. In doing this, you allov your fingers to rest, with apparent carelessness, 
upon the real four of spades, the position of which you have known all the 
while. Having picked up the four of spades, you place it with the others in your 
hand. 

You are now able to produce the five cards you have named beforehand, viz: 
Four of spades, seven of hearts, ace of diamonds, queen of hearts and eight of 
clubs. The effect upon spectators is indeed surprising. 

Much depends upon the tact which you employ in executing this trick. You 
should first impress it in an indirect way upon the minds of those present, that 
your experiment is one of actual prevision. It is one of the rules of magic to 
lead the thoughts as well as eyes in a wrong direction. Be careful in picking up 
the cards. Do not let some “ smart aleck ” who is to touch a card, get ahead of 
you by turning it over and thus exposing your trick. In looking at a card, 
after having taken it into your hand, do so adroitly; don’t stare at it. As the 
success of the feat depends upon knowing the location of one card, do not mafe&’ 
a mistake on that one. 

REPAIRING PAIRS. 

After allowing the cards to be shuffled, deal off twenty cards, face upward, 
placing them by twos. Ask any of the company to notice and remember any 
two cards. This being done, gather up the cards, being careful that no pair 
gets separated. Deal them out again in four row's of five each after this formula: 
Mutus Dedit Nomen Cocis. You will observe that this sentence, ten letters 
only, each one being repeated. This will give you a “tell-tale” as to the ar- 
rangement of the cards which will be as follows: 


M 

U 

T 

u 

8 

1 

2 

/ 3 

2 

4 

D 

E 

D 

I 

T 

5 

6 

5 

7 

8 

N 

0 

M 

E 

N 

8 

9 

1 

6 

8 


O 

C 

I 

8 

1(3 

9 

10 

r 

4 


SIMPLE CARD TRICKS FOR PARLORS. 


U 

Dealing your cards out in this fashion, you have only to ask in which rows 
two cards appear to tell which two they are. Thus, if the person says first and 
third rows you know that it is the card appearing on M. If he says both are in 
the last row, they are the cards representing the two C’s. 

You may repeat this trick, naming three cards instead of two, by dealing 
twenty-four cards in threes, and using the following to give you a clue to which 
ones were selected: 


L 

I 

V 

I 

N 

I 

L 

A 

N 

A 

T 

A 

L 

E 

V 

E 

T 

E 

N 

nO 

V 

O 

T 

O 


Making four rows of six cards. 

TO TELL WHICH CARDS HAVE BEEN TURNED AROUND IN YOUR ABSENCE. 

If you examine your pack of cards carefully, you will find a difference in the* 
width of margin at the ends of the court cards. This difference is very slight 
and not noticeable unless attention is called to it. Take the four kings, placing 
them face up on the table with the narrow margin all at the top. Then allow 
your audience to turn one or more of the cards around during your absence 
from the room. You can of course tell on your return which card has been 
turned, by noticing the margin. While this trick is very simple and can be per- 
formed without special practise, there is little or no danger of discovery. 

TO NAME A CARD CHOSEN. 

This trick is done with the aid of an acknowledged confederate. Allow one of 
the audience to shuffle the cards, then deal sixteen of them in four rows on the 
table. They may be face up or not, as you choose. Then agree privately with 
your assistant that the numbers one, two, three, four, shall be represented by 
animal, vegetable, mineral, verb. Leave the room while a card is being chosen, 
your assistant remaining. 

On your return your confederate shows you a passage in any book which the 
audience may name. The sentence selected must have two words of which the 
first shall tell the row and the second the number of the card in that row. Sup- 
posing the quotation to be “a pendulum twixt smile and tear.” Pendulum in 
this case would be the tell-tale for mineral and smile for the verb. Thus you 
would know that the card chosen was the first card in the fourth row, or for 
another example, “ earth's noblest thing, woman perfected.” Earth represent- 
ing the mineral, woman the animal, showing the card to be the first in the third 
row. Or again supposing the sentence to be “fain would I clivib , yet fear to 
fall." In this case both words are verbs, showing the card to be the fourth one 
in the fourth row. This experiment can be repeated a number of times withoul 
fear of detection, and mystified the audience as the sentences may be of anj 
length and chosen from any book. 

A CARD CHOSEN BY ONE PERSON APPEARS AT NUMBER NAMED BY ANOTHER. 

Allow the cards to be freely cut and shuffled, then offer the pack to one of the 
audience, ask him to look them over and remember one, noting its number, 
counting from the bottom of the pack. Call attention to the fact that you have 
asked no questions, stating that you already know the card. Ask some one to 
give a number at which they wish it to appear, so that you may cause it to 
change to that place. 

Request them to arrange between themselves to have the number higher than 
its original position. Supposing the number chosen to be eighteen, remark 


SCIENTIFIC MANIPULATIONS WITH CARDS, 


13 


carelessly that it is not even necessary for you to see the cards, placing them 
under the table or where they will not be visible, deal off eighteen cards from 
the bottom of the pack, if the number called amounts to more than half the 
number of cards in the pack, count the difference in the numbers from the top 
of the pack, that is if the number called is twenty-seven in a piquet pa«;fc of 
thirty-two cards, count five cards from the top and put them at the bottom. 
This is equal to putting the twenty-seven from the bottom on top. 

You can then continue by saying that as the card has already changed places, 
you may ask what its original number was. Supposing the original number to > 
have been five, deal the eards'off che top of the pack, commencing to count from,/ 
the number named, that is five, six, seven and so on until eighteen is reached, 
which should be the card called for. Ask the first person to tell what the card) 
was before showing it in order to avoid appearance of confederacy. 

TO NAME FOUR CARDS WHICH HAVE BEEN SELECTED. 

Have some one shuffle the cards thoroughly, then take the four top cards from 
the pack, asking one of the audience to note one of them and return them to 
you. Hold these four faces down in your left hand and take the next four cards 
from the pack. Pass these to some one else who, after noticing one will return 
them to you. Repeat this twice more, then take the sixteen cards and deal 
them into four packs. Ask the person selecting the first card, which pack his 
card is in. This will be the top one of the pack named, the second card will be 
second in the pack named, and the third and fourth the same in their respective 
packs. 


CHAPTER IV. 

SCIENTIFIC MANIPULATIONS WITH CARDS. 

If you wish to become recognized as an expert at card conjuring, it will be 
necessary to learn various scientific movements, the most important of which is 
known as sauter la coupe, or the “pass.” This means to cut the cards, but in a 
secret manner. There are various methods of making the pass, both single and 
double handed. The latter are the easiest to execute although not simple to th? 
comprehension of the learner at first. I will in this volume describe the most 
practical pass known. It is executed with both hands. 

The cands which can most conveniently be used in sleight of hand practice are 
known as “squeezers.” They are of a thin, pliable, spring-like stock. If too 
stiff when new, they should be handled some before being used in an exhibition. 
French made cards are always the most satisfactory to the performer because 
they are smaller than the American. It is advisable, however, to acquire an 
ability to handle cards of any size or quality. 

TO PALM A CARD. 

It is essential that a magical performer be able to palm one or more cards sue* 
cessfully. The art of palming is not as difficult as may at first appear. Lay a 
card upon the palm of your hand. Bend your fingers slightly so that the card 
will be covered also. Turn your hand over, and it will remain where you have 
placed it. To retain several cards or a full pack in this manner is not as easy 
but is possible, after practice. 

An important feature is to hold the hand as naturally as possible, without its 
having a suspiciously stiff or cramped appearance. This seemingly unavoidable 
effect can be disguised by holding your wand or some other object in the same 


)4 


SCIENTIFIC MANIPULATIONS WITH CARDS. 


hand, which gives you an opportunity of doubling your fingers. Care should be 
taken to flatten the card, or cards, again when replacing on the pack after- 
wards. 

TWO-HANDED PASS. 

Hold in your left hand the pack of cards as per the illustration (No. 1) ; notice 
that the cards are divided by the insertion of the small linger. 



PIG. 1. 

Next cover the pack with your other hand in such a maimer that you can grip 
the upper and lower ends of the undermost division as shown in the illustration 
(No. 2); you are now ready to make the manipulation. 



pig. 2. 


Tighten the fingers (but not tne thumb) of your left ha»d so that the upper 
division of the pack is firmly held between them. Carefully move the upper 
portion away from its position, at the same time using the fingers of your right 
hand to tilt the lower division upwards. This will enable you to quite readily 
place the upper section undermost. 

The pass has then been made. To learn to execute this movement success- 
fully and invisibly will require considerable practice. No learner can hope to 
acquire it without much study. I should judge that a practice of two hours a 
day for a month would result in fair proficiency. The writer required daily re- 
hearsal for nearly a year before he could make the pass so that it would be ab- 
solutely invisible even to an adept. As the pass is the very non sinegus of card 
magic it will be well, if possible, to receive instruction from a competent teacher 
of legerdemain. 

TO FORCE A CARD. 

To compel a person to select from the pack any card which you may want 
him to, seems rather a bold proposition to the uninitiated, yet to do this is pos- 
sible. I venture to say that the average skilled magician can, under ordinary 
conditions, force nine cards out of every ten attempts. By following the direo 
tions faithfully you can, after practice, do as well as any other performer. 


CARD TRICKS REQUIRING SKILZ. 


U 

Let us suppose you want to force the eai’d which is on the bottom of the pack, 
for instance, the ace of spades. First make the pass which will bring this card 
to the middle of the pack. When the pass is made, place your little finger again 
between the upper and lower divisions so that the ace of spades will rest upon 
the back of the finger. Now spread the cards fan-wise but still “know” the card 
in question by the little finger. You can now hold the cards before a spectator 
and request him to select a card. Run the cards over quite slowly until the 
spectator’s about to pick one out, then move them in such a manner that the 
particular card appears prominently before him just as he is reaching to taka 
one. He will naturally select the card which you intend he shall. Of course^ 
some practice is necessary before you can do this well, but from the start you 
will bo well pleased with your success in forcing. | 

After you have had some experience you will be able to ascertain at a glance 
who are the best persons to allow to select in order to force successfully. 

OTHER MOVEMENTS. 

There are numerous other movements such as changing a card, ruffling, 
springing from hand to hand, etc., which are usually known to professional con- 
jurers but are not described here for lack of space. To those who are desirous 
of becoming familiar with all the sleights and intricacies of card magic, as well 
as a large number of other magical matters not described herein, we refer to 
those excellent volumes entitled “Modern Magic” and “More Magic,” which can 
be obtained at $2.50 each from Henry J. Wehman, publisher, 130 & 132 Park Row, 
New York. Another interesting volume, “Hoffman’s Tricks with Cards,” can be 
secured of Mr. Wehman for 50c. These volumes are of real value to all students 
of the magic art and I can highly recommend them. Having learned the fore* 
going manipulations, the student is now prepared to perform some very startling 
tricks. 

CHAPTER V. 

CARD TRICKS REQUIRING SKILL. 

A great many surprises can be effected by simply forcing a number of cards. 
Tell the spectators that you propose to name the cards which they may select 
from a pack even though you do not know them. 

Produce or borrow an ordinary pack and allow them to be shuffled by one who 
is present. Notice the bottom card, bring it to the middle by a pass, then force 
it. After having the cards shuffled again, repeat with another person, and then 
a third. You are now aware which card each person holds. Request these as- 
sistants to take care that you do not have the slightest opportunity to see what 
cards they hold. 

Next allow the three persons to replace their cards, each in turn shuffling them 
so as to preclude' any possibility of your knowing in what position they may be 
placed. You state that you will take the cards, backs upward, and turn over 
one at a time. As you reach the cards which were selected, you announce th&v 
you are able to distinguish them by the sense of touch. Suiting the active to the 
word, you hold the pack in your left hand, turning over one at a time. As you 
know just what the cards are, you can readily sort out the three particular cards 
in question. If this little feat is cleverly done, it will cause a great wonderment. 

The reader will naturally remark: “Suppose I do not succeed in forcing three 
cards, but that one or two of the spectators insist on taking different cards.” 
For all such emergencies as this, the magician should always be prepared to 
change his tactics without the slightest delay. For instance, we will assume 
that No. 1 takes a card different from that which you want to force, No. 9 takflft 
the card you offer and No. S selects an indifferent card- 


H 


CARD TRICKS REQUIRING 


Tou are not balked by any means. After the three cards have been taken oui» 
and are held in the hands of the three spectators, you take the remaining cards 
and allow them to be shuffled. Ask each person to bear in mind the name of his 
card. Now approach the first person (No 1) and, spreading the cards fan-wise, 
request him to place his card in the pack. As you hold the pack open, backs 
upward, the fingers of your left hand should remain under the pack in such a 
manner that when the card is placed therein, you can detect it at once with your 
fingers. Then close up the pack but at the same time manage to slip your little 
finger under the card in question. You can now make the pass, bringing the 
t particular card to the bottom of the pack. It will thus be an easy matter to ob- 
serve what the card is. 

| In the instance of the second card, (although you know its name,) it will be 
well to tender the cards fan- wise to No. 2 and allow the card to be placed in the 
' pack. It will not be necessary for you to make the pass in this instance and you 
can proceed to No. 3 (whose card you do not know) and once more spreading the 
cards, have him place his among them. Make the pass and get sight of the card. 
You now know the cards and can afterward announce their names in the manner 
previously described. 

There are other methods of naming the cards selected and replaced. For ex- 
ample, you can pretend to read the cards by glancing at the eyes of the persons 
who selected them, declaring that you can, by magical power, detect their 
knowledge as you handle the cards. In doing this you merely glance at each 
card as you turn it over, and immediately turn your eyes upon the spectators. 
A most excellent version of this trick is known as 

MILLER’S SWORD TRICK. 

Assuming that you have allowed three cards to be selected and that by one or 
the other methods described in the foregoing explanations, you have become 
aware of the names of the three cards. 

Now produce an ordinary military sword, or in lieu thereof, an open pocket 
knife. Borrow a handkerchief. 

’ Throw the pack of cards, face upwards, on the floor, with apparent careless- 
ness. If, however, you are using a knife, throw them upon a table. Allow the 
sword and handkerchief to be examined. Taking the comers of the handker- 
chief fold it into a bandage not over two inches wide. Request somebody to 
blindfold you. To the spectators it will appear that the blindfold is a ventable 
blindfold, yet it is not, for you can see what is directly beneath your eyes. The 
cards being on floor or table, by standing close by, you can look directly down 
upon them. Of course, only yourself knows this. 

Holding the sword or knife in your hand, you will first scatter the cards. 
While you are doing this, get sight at each of the three and bear in mind their 
locations. While scattering the cards, do not be too precise, as a clue may thus 
be afforded to those who are watching you. Occasionally let your instrument 
snatch the floor or table, without touching cards, to give the impression that you 
are “groping in the dark.” 

You are now ready to effect the climax of the trick. Keep your eyes upon the 
card of spectator No. 1. State to the audience that you will wave your instru- 
ment over the cards, and that when No. 1 says “stop” you will then stop on the 
instant, and after lowering your sword or knife, vertically, the tip will rest upon 
the card which had been previously selected by that person. 

While your instrument is encircling the cards, (which should not have been 
scattered beyond reach) the person says “stop.” You wfll be able to stop im- 
mediately and yet the tip of the instrument will be just over the proper card. 
To be able to do this re quires c onsiderable practice, as do the other portions of 


CARD TRICKS REQUIRING SKILL 


19 


the trick, yet you can so train your muscles that when the spectator starts to 
pronounce the word “stop” your sword (or knife) comes over the card you de- 
sire it to, so that within a fraction of a second after the word has been spoken 
you are ready to lower the tip upon the card. The same process is to be 
repeated in arriving at the second and third cards that were chosen. 

The sword trick, first performed by an English mystifier named Miller, is one 
of the best card illusions that I have ever known. The blindfolding arrangement 
is, in itself, a great deception and has frequently been the means of puzzling 
even expert card conjurors who would otherwise have been able to discover the 
modus operandi of the trick. Do not attempt to do this in public until you have 
devoted enough time to its practice to enable you to feel sure that you will 
succeed. If you can do this feat of sleight of hand successfully, I am willing to 
guarantee that you can learn anything in the line of card conjuring. Another 
trick that is usually well appreciated is 

TO NAIL A CERTAIN CARD TO A DOOR. 

This requires both sleight of hand and the assistance of a sharp tack which 
may, before beginning, be concealed either in your hand or some other conven- 
ient place where it may be readily secured when wanted. 

After allowing the cards to be examined and shuffled, allow any person to 
select one at random. You now tender the pack, spread fan- wise, and request 
that he insert his card. Make the pass, thus bringing the card to the bottom. If 
desired, you can make a false shuffle. In order to do this, let the pack rest 
loosely in your left hand and do the shuffling with your right, in the same man- 
ner that cards are usually shuffled in the hands, except that you grip the bottom 
card (which is the one selected) between the thumb and forefinger of your right 
hand, and while shuffling, never allow this certain card to depart from your 
finger tips. In this way, by a little practice, you apparently mix the cards 
thoroughly while, as a matter of fact, you retain the particular card at the bot- 
tom of the pack when your shuffle is concluded. Of course, the faces of the 
cards should be kept toward yourself. Having done this, you now palm off the 
bottom card into your right hand, between fingers of which is tack. By a little 
pressure, push the point of the tack through the face of the card, so that it will 
stick out at the back. While you are doing this, you can to a certain extent, de- 
tract the eyes of the audience from you by requesting them to keep their eyes 
upon a certain spot on the door, where you aver the chosen card is likely to ap- 
pear. You have laid the pack upon a table after palming off the card, and after 
sundry movements with your viand (for instance, tap the spot where the card is 
to appear) you pick up the pack. 

It is now necessary to get your palmed card on the top of the pack, and as it is 
palmed face inward, you will have to exercise some dexterity in placing it there. 
This can be done by carelessly shuffling the cards after you pick them up, while 
you are talking. An opportunity is thus afforded to get your card on top. In 
this part of the trick you must hold the backs of the cards toward yourself, to 
conceal the tack. 

To produce the result, approach the door. Suddenly lift the pack, and throw 
it against the door, face outward. Naturally, the top card will become fastened 
to the woodwork, the tack being driven in by the force of the other cards. Care 
should be taken in throwing, so that the particular card will strike flatly against 
the door. The effect will be quite startling to the spectators if this trick is well 
done. 

CARD IN A BOY’S POCKET. 

Allow a card to be selected at random, then have It replaced, make the pass 


18 


CARD TRICKS REQUIRING APPARATUS. 


and bring it to the bottom. Make a false shuffle if you can. Call for a boy, the 
younger the better. 

Place the pack in one of his inside pockets where the cards will be out of sight 
of all. As you place the cards there, lift the under card (the one selected) and 
bend it over so that it will protrude above the others, yet should not be visible. 
On this account a deep pocket should be chosen, or a vest pocket which is 
screened by the boy’s coat. 

Take hold of one of the youth’s hands and ask him to keep it above his head 
until you count three. When you have said “three” he is to place his hand on 
the pack and “remove one as quickly as possible" Tell him that this must be 
done in the fiftieth part of a second and otherwise excite him, so that when he 
reaches for the card he will take the one that his fingers first touch, which will 
of oourse be the card originally selected. 

When the lad shows the card, he, as well as the spectators, will be greatly sur- 
prised. This trick ought to be well practiced before you attempt to execute it in 
public, and when you perform it with an interesting talk and vivacity its effect is 
really wonderful. 


CHAPTER VL 


CARD TRICKS REQUIRING APPARATUS. 


There are numerous card tricks which may be performed with specially con- 
structed apparatus, but nearly all such require more or less dexterity. You can 
make some of the contrivances yourself, and buy the more expensive supplies of 
a manufacturer of such articles. 


THE INDEPENDENT CARD. 


This is not usually shown as a trick by itself, but as a predecessor to some 
other feat. Have concealed about your person a small piece of tin, about halt 
an inch wide, bent like this: 



Upon the two outer sides of the tin adhere a little wax. While handling the 
cards it will not be a difficult matter to get the piece of tin concealed behind 
them, just before you are ready to introduce the illusion. With your thumb you 
can press the piece of metal against the lower back side of the last card. You 
can now take that card away from the pack, the piece remaining attached 
thereto, and if the face of the card is kept toward the audience, they will not be 
aware of the existence of the mechanism. 

Stand the card upright upon the table, at the same time pressing the lower 
side of the tin against the surface of the table. This will enable the cards to 
stand upright without support. It will be quite an easy matter to get the piece 
out of the way after you are done with it. 


TO CHANGE THE ACES. 


To perform this illusion you must have a card prepared beforehand. Carefully 
•ut the ace of clubs from a card and nib the back of it with soap sufficient to 
attach it to the ace of diamonds, which it will cover entirely. Place the card ou 
your table so as to have it convenient. Ask one of the audience to draw a card 


CARD TRICKS REQUIRING APPARATUS. 


19 


—forcing the ace of clubs. Show this to the audience. Place it again in the 
pack, making the pass to bring it to the top, then palming it. Pass the cards to 
some one to be shuffled and while this is being done walk to your table ostensibly 
to pick up your wand, but in reality to quickiy drop the real ace and palm the 
prepared card. Take the pack from the person who holds it, with your left 
hand, covering it quickly with your right; in this way the prepared card comes 
on top of the pack. 

Apparently cut them and show the prepared card, asking if that was the one 
selected. Place the pack upon the table still holding the ace in your hand face 
down, and tell your audience that you intend to change the card you hold, show- 
ing it, from the ace of clubs to the ace of diamonds by merely touching it with 
your wand. 

At the same time with the ends of your fingers remove the ace of clubs. Then 
lightly touching it with your wand command it to change which the audience 
will see is done when ycu show it to them. 

TO TELL COURT CARDS WHEN BLINDFOLDED. 

This trick requires the assistance of a confederate behind the scenes. You 
will also require a small hook attached to a long black silk thread. 

Ask one of the audience to shuffle the cards, and while this is being done seat 
yourself in a chair as near as possible to the table, which should be near the cur- 
tain at the back of the stage. When seating yourself attach the small hook to 
your coat. 

Ask the person who has the cards to bring them to you, also to blindfold you. 
Request him then to seat himself near you. Commence by taking the cards one 
at a time from the top of the pack on the table, holding them in such a position 
that your confederate can see them : feel of each one carefully. When you reach 
a court card your confederate will give you the signal by pulling the thread. It 
is well to hold the card slightly above your head as your audience is less likely 
to be suspicious and your confederate can see them better. 

FLYING CARDS. 

In order to perform this trick you must first take two cards, say the ten of 
spades, covering th9 back of them with black paper. You will also require two 
boxes the right size to lay the card in the bottom. These boxes must also be 
lined with black paper and so made that the cover is of the same size and not 
distinguishable from the box itself. 

Shuffle your cards and ask one of your audience to select one, forcing the ten 
of spades in your pack. After having forced your card have it returned to the 
pack, which you place on the table. 

Open your boxes and show the audience that they are (apparently) empty, in 
reality showing them the back of the cards lying in the bottom of the boxes. 

Return them to the table and in doing so turn them so that your cards will be 
face out. Place the pack of cards between the boxes and ask the audience to 
watch, as you intend to pass the card from the pack into the box nearest you. 

Passing your wand over them at the same time, you now open the box showing 
the face of the card. Close the box and turn it again so as to bring the back of 
the card uppermost, and with your wand pass it into the other box, opening the 
first box to prove that it is empty and showing the card in the second box. 

Close the box again, turning it. Tell your audience you will cause the card to 
return to the pack. Show them again that both boxes are empty. Pass the 
pack to the party who first selected the card, allowing him to satisy himself and 
yeur audience that the card is really in its original place. 


SIMPLE TRICKS WITH COINS. 


J» 

THE WALKING CARD. 

Procure a very long hair or fine strong black silk thread and attach a email 
piece of wax to one end. Allow one of your audience to select a card and return 
it to the pack. Make the pass, bringing the card to the top of the pack. Shuffle 
the cards, being careful to keep the one selected on top. 

Put them on the table, at the same time pressing the wax on to the top one 
firmly. Step back from the table a few steps, holding the other end of the 
thread carefully. Command the card selected to leave the pack, at the same 
time making a quick natural movement with the hand. The card will fly from 
the pack and fall to the floor. Pick it up at the same time detaching the wax; 
show your audience that it is the same card as selected. 

* “la hottlette”— rising cards. 

In performing this trick you will require two packs of cards, one of which 
must be prepared before hand. 

Select three cards. 

A knot is made in a silk thread which is fastened into a notch in the sixth card 
from the top of the pack. This thread is arranged to go under the cards selected 
and over the top of the alternating ones, the top card of the pack being the first 
card selected. 

Take your pack, asking the audience to examine the cards. Have three cards 
drawn. These three you must of course force, as it is necessary they should oe 
duplicates of the three previously arranged. When the cards have been drawn 
and replaced in the pack return to the stage, lay them on the table, asking the 
audience to notice an ordinary glass goblet in which you will place the cards, at 
the same time placing in it the prepared pack to which the thread is attached. 
The other end of the thread should be drawn through a small hole in your table 
and carried behind the scenes, where your assistant can, by pulling lightly at 
the word of command, cause each card in turn to arise. 

Having placed the cards in the goblet you can ask the person selecting the first 
card to name it, and on the name being given, you can command it to arise, 
which it will do. Each being called in turn until the three selected have ap- 
peared, when you can take the goblet and cards and allow the audience to satisfy 
themselves again that there is no concealed mechanism. 





Another mode of doing this trick is to have only one card selected, and on its 
being returned make the pass to bring it to the top of the pack. Holding the 
cards face to the audience you can with your first two fingers cause this card to 
r.'«* ''nil Ad by the person who selected it. See illustration. 


SIMPLE TRICKS WITH COINS. 


» 

CHAPTER VII. 

SIMPLE TRICKS WITH COINS. 

Illusions with coins, like those with cards, when well done, before small audi- 
ences, are always pleasing. There are only a few sleight of hand feats in which 
pieces of money are used, that can be very effective in large halls -on account of 
the fact that such objects, being small, are not easily seen, and at a distance of 
twenty feet it is frequently difficult to distinguish the difference between a half' 
dollar and a dollar coin. There are various methods of making “passes,” palm- 
ing, etc. , a few of which I will first describe. 

TO PALM A COIR. 

Open your hand and place in the palm thereof a silver half-dollar. Now 
slightly close the hand, which will push the coin into the proper position so that 
by slightly compressing the muscles you can hold it quite tightly, and if you turn 
your hand over it will not fall out. This is the usual method of palming. It 
should be practiced so that you can swing your arm carelessly or pick up other 
objects, such as your wand, or an orange, without dropping the coin. When 
studying sleight of hand I used to carry a coin palmed in my hand for hours at 
a time, while attending to other matters. You should practice with coins of 
various sizes; the smaller the piece the less easily you can palm it unless your 
hand happens to be a small one. Another thing to be acquired is the knack of 
palming quickly. 

You should learn to catch a coin on the fly, yet have it immediately rest in the 
proper position. Do not imagine that it is necessary to keep your hand flat; this 
is a mistake frequently made by amateurs. The hand should retain its natural 
position at all times. Another method, not exactly “palming,” is to hold a coin 
between two fingers. This way is sometimes useful. Sometimes the coin is 
held between the thumb and forefinger, where a tight pressure is possible if 
necessary. This latter method is desirable for secretly holding two or three 
coins. 

If it is desired to hold a number of pieces, say twenty quarters, they should be 
tied by a thread then held in the palm of the hand, but in such a case a tight and 
even pressure is needed to prevent an accident. 

“le tourniquet”— the pass. 

A very simple yet perplexing (to spectators) pass is performed as follows: 

Hold the left hand, palm upwards, with the coin resting by the edge, horizon- 
tally between the thumb and second finger. 

Next move the right hand toward the left, passing the thumb to the right 
under and the fingers over the coin, closing them just as they pass it. At the 
same time let the coin drop into the palm of the left hand. It will appear to the 
spectators as if your right hand had grasped the coin. You should then carry 
the right hand (closed) upwards, at the same time letting the left arm to drop 
naturally. Follow your right hand with your eyes. If you execute this pass 
well, the audience will firmly believe that you are holding the coin in your right 
hand, when, as you of course know, it is in your left. If you wish, you can, at a 
moment of inadventure on the part of the audience, drop the coin from your 
hand into your pochette, thus enabling you to say: “I will now open my right 
hand and it is gone,” and if anybody challenges you to open your left hand, you 
can do that also, showing that the money has disappeared entirely. 

THE RING OF MONEY. 

This Is a parlor trick, requires no skill and is quite surprising to those who dO 


SIMPLE TRICKS WITH COINS. 


a 

not know how it is done. Here is the modus operandi: 

Take a quantity of coins and place them in a circle as shown in the illustra- 
tion, making a “tail.” Ask some person to think of a number and to count up 
that number, beginning with the end of the tail and counting around the circle. 
Then from the coin on which he stops he is to count back, but this time ignoring 
the tall and following the circle. 

O O 

o o 

o o 

o o 

o o 
o 
o 
o 
o 

You can leave the room while he does the counting, and can correctly tell 
where he finally stopped, no matter what number he thought of. 

The secret is: The final stopping place is determined by your first secretly 
counting the number of pieces in the tail, then secretly counting up from the 
head of the tail, to the right, the same number as there are pieces in the appen- 
dage. For instance, with the circle and tail here shown, no matter what number 
is selected, the stopping point will always be the fourth to the right from the top 
of the taiL 

The trick should not be repeated more than once or twice and each time you 
should alter the number of coins in circle and tail, so that the stopping point will 
be changed. Lay some coins on a table, try this yourself, and you will see how 
easily it is done. 

TO STICK A CENT TO THE WALL. 

This a very simple trick, but one that will cause considerable amusement. 
Take two common cents and nick the edges of one of them with a knife, when 
by pressing it hard against the wall it will remain there. Take your two cents 
in one hand, with only one visible, perform the trick, then ask some one else to 
do it, giving them of course the other cent. The writer has had lots of amuse- 
ment watching the ineffectual attempts, by wetting and otherwise to make a 
perfect cent stick to the wall. 

TO CHANGE ONE COIN INTO ANOTHER. 

You may perform with an old quarter a trick which, if well executed, is very 
amusing. You exhibit the quarter in the hand; then only just shut and open 
the hand, and it changes itself into a cent. You only need to shut and open the 
hand a second time to change it back into a quarter; the third time it disap- 
pears altogether, and the fourth it reappears again. These four tricks, alto- 
gether, should occupy less than half a minute. 

To do this you must have a quarter dollar (old style, and precisely the same 
Size as a cent), filed down and flattened to half its thickness. The cent must be 
treated in the same way; and they are then soldered together, so as to appear 
but one piece, which is either of copper or silver, according to which side is up- 
permost. You begin by exhibiting the piece on the ends of the fingers. 

Closing the hand you naturally reverse the coin, and it reappears as a cent 
About the middle of the hand. 

If you then allow it to glide gently towards the ends of the fingers, it is clear 


SIMPLE TRICKS WITH COINS. 88 

that you only need to shut and open the hand a second time to male* It reappear 
as a quarter. 

Then make the coin disappear by palming, and it is very easy to make it ap- 
pear again. If you are not an adept at palming this part of the trick can be 
omitted. 

TO TELL WHEN BLIND-FOLDED WHICH SIDE OF A COIN FALLS* 

Borrow a half dollar from some one in the audience, and on returning to the 
stage exchange it when not noticeable for one which you have previously pre- ( 
pared by having cut in the edge a small notch. This notch should be very min- 
ute and cut in such a way that a very small point will project from that side of 
the coin. 

When the coin is spun on a table, which should be without cloth, if it falls with 
the notched side up it will run down gradually. If it falis with the notched side 
down the slight projection caused by the notch will interfere with the continued 
spinnimg and the coin will drop without the slowly decreasing rolls. 

The difference in the sound is not sufficient to be noticeable by the audience, 
but is readily distinguished by the operator, after a little practise. 

TO PASS MARKED COINS INTO TWO ORANGES IN SUCCESSION. 

Prepare before hand by making a slit an inch and a half deep and of sufficient 
size to admit a half dollar in two oranges. In one of these place a half dollar, 
which we will call number 1 to distinguish it from the other. Leave these be- 
hind the scenes until wanted. 

Palm in either hand another half dollar (number 2). Borrow a third half dol- 
lar, (number 3) from one of the audience, number 3 being first marked by the 
owner. 

Call attention to the fact that throughout the experiment the coin is not to be 
removed from sight, and accordingly placing it, (in reality substituting number 
2) in full sight on the table. Having placed the half dollar where the audience 
can see it, go after an orange making this an opportunity to place the marked 
coin in the second orange. Bring out this orange openly and place on the table 
at your right hand. The other orange should have been placed in the right hand 
secret pocket when it can be palmed at a moment’s notice. 

You then say, “I think we may as well use two oranges instead of one, leave 
anyone in the audience loan me one.” No one offering one you can step forward 
and take from the pocket of some gentleman near you the second orange, which 
contains the half dollar (number 1). Place this orange on the left hand table; 
standing behind the table ask into which orange the coin shall be passed first. 

As the right of the audience is your left you are at liberty to interpret 
their reply as you please. Thus if the audience say, “The left” you can say, 
“on my left, all right,” if the audience say the right you can say “on your right, 
very well.” 

Taking coin (number 2) in your left hand you pretend by the turniquet to pass 
it to the right hand and thence passing it to the orange. Meanwhile drop it from 
the left hand to the table. 

Showing your hands empty you cut open the orange and show the unmarked 
coin. 

Call the attention of the audience to the fact that they chose the orange them- 
selves, but to satisfy them that it made no difference which orange was used you 
will repeat the experiment with the other orange. 

Take the second orange containing the marked half dollar, and run a knife 
through it at the opening made to admit the half dollar. Pass the knife with 
the orange to some one to hold and then standing some distance away take up 


SIMPLE TRICKS WITH COINS. 


24 

coin number 1 and showing it in the left hand pretend to take it in the right, 
making one of the passes to retain it in the left hand. Make a motion as if to 
throw it from the right hand to the orange. 

Ask the person holding the orange to cut it open himself, which he does, show- 
ing the marked coin, which will of course be identified by its owner. 

Should the audience insist on the wrong orange you cannot easily avoid using 
it. In this case pass the coin to it as previously described, allowing some one 
in the audience to cut the orange. 

Have the coin fully identified and the audience being fully satisfied that this 
is the genuine half dollar, you can repeat, using the second orange and cutting 
it open yourself, changing the coin contained therein for the marked one before 
returning it to the owner for identification. 

If you are not sufficiently experienced to palm the second orange successfully 
you can omit that and bring both oranges out stating that you will use both. 

TO MAKE TWO COINS CHANGE PLACES. 

Borrow from the audience a quarter dollar and a two-cent piece, requesting 
that they first mark the coins, also borrow two pocket handkerchiefs. While 
these articles are being collected in the audience, you can, unobserved, palm a 
two-oent piece of your own in your left hand, receiving the borrowed coins in 
your right hand. 

This being done, you pretend to put both coins into your left hand, in reality 
retaining the two-cent piece in your right hand and passing only the quarter 
dollar to your left, where you already hold the two-cent piece of your own. 

Place the marked quarter dollar and your own two-cent piece on the table, 
calling the attention of the audience to your not removing the coins from sight. 
Take the quarter in the fingers of your right hand, throw over it one of the bor- 
rowed handkerchiefs and take in your left hand apparently the quarter covered 
by the handkerchief, but in reality the marked two-cent piece which you had 
palmed in that hand. 

Palm the quarter and ask some one to hold the handkerchief and coin by tak- 
ing the two-cent piece covered by the handkerchief between the fingers in such 
a manner that the shape of the coin is easily distinguished through the folds in 
such a way that the audience can easily distinguish the shape of the coin which 
they suppose to be the quarter and which is in reality the marked two-cent 
piece. 

Now take your penny and apparently wrap it in the handkerchief in the same 
manner, in reality palming it and using the quarter. Take your wand and in so 
doing drop the substitute two-cent piece on your table. Ask a second person to 
hold the other handkerchief, and request the two persons holding the handker- 
chiefs to stand facing each other. Touch the coins lightly with your wand and 
command them to “change.” This they will have done as will be discovered on 
investigating. 

A variation of this trick may be performed without the aid of handkerchiefs 
by having some one hold one of the coins tightly closed in his hand, holding 
the other in your own hand compel them to change places. 

“heads” or “tails.” 

To perform this trick it is necessary to have one prepared coin which is made 
by joining two similar halves of quarter or half dollars together so that both 
sides are “tails.” 

Borrow from the audience four quarters which all are satisfied are genuine 
quarters. Substitute quickly the prepared coin of your own. Pile the four coins 
on the table “tails” upward ancl^isl^someone to turn the pile over without dls* 


ILLUSIONS WITH RINGS. 


25 


turbing their relative positions. You now announce that they are all heads up, 
which will appear to the audience a natural conclusion. 

TeH them the matter is not as simple as they suppose, and pile the coins up 
again “tails” up, turn them over and ask what are they now, to which the 
general response will be “all heads,” but on examination it will be found that 
there are three heads and one tail. 

Arrange them again placing them alternately head and tail, and on turning 
them there will be one head and three tails. Placing them head and three tails 
they will be found to be when reversed, heads and tails alternately. 

You can vary this trick indefinitely, but if repeated too often is likely to result 
in discovery. The fourth borrowed coin should be held in the left hand when it 
can be substituted at once when necessary. 

INTELLIGENT COIN. 

To perform this trick you will require a coin which has been prepared before-; 
hand by being attached to a long black silk thread. Lay the coin on your table' 
where it will be easily picked up when wanted. The other end of the thread 
should be carried behind the scenes, where it can be held by your assistant 
when wanted. 

When ready, borrow another similar coin from the audience. An easy way to 
exchange the coins is to lay the borrowed coin on the table and bring forward 
an ordinary tumbler for examination. On returning with the glass, pick up the 
prepared coin instead of the borrowed one. 

Make a few passes with your hands, stating that you intend to mesmerize the 
coin sufficiently to make it answer questions. Having mesmerized it sufficiently, 
drop it into the glass where it will immediately commence to fly about. Care 
should be taken not to pull the thread sufficiehtly to break it or to make the coin 
fly from the glass. 

A hole in the table through which to pass the thread will be of great assistance 
and when that is not practicable, a small ring attached to the top of the table 
behind the glass will answer the purpose very well. 

Questions may be asked the coin, and replies made by its rising twice for no 
and three times for yes. It can also be made to tell the hour of day, day of the 
month and similar questions. 

If you prefer, you can use the borrowed coin by having the silk thread pre- 
pared as before and attaching to the end of it a small piece of wax. If care is 
taken to press the wax firmly against the coin it answers quite as well as the 
method just described. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

ILLUSIONS WITH BINGS. 

In this chapter space is devoted to an explanation of some interesting and at- 
tractive sleights In which ordinary finger rings play a part. Probably the great-; 
est of all tricks of this kind is the one performed by Kellar, which is explained 
in detail, so that with some practice, even an amateur can become quite adept' 
in its presentation. A great deal of skill is necessary, to which must be added 
the assistance of an expert “property man,” and well made apparatus. 

In all tricks where possible the articles to be used should be borrowed from the 
audience, as it is less likely to give an idea of previous preparation. Such 
articles as coins, rings, handkerchiefs and hats, are readily borrowed, and can if 
necessary be substituted for like articles which have been prepared beforehand. 


M 


ILLUSIONS WITH RINGS. 


In performing tricks with rings, it is always best to borrow wedding rings 
which are most common and the substitute is less easily distinguished. 

THE MYSTERIOUS RING. 

To perform the trick known as the flying or vanishing ring, it is first necessary 
to have a plain gold or gilt ring which may be used as substitute when required; 
have attached to this ring a fine white silk thread which should be attached to 
a piece of white elastic, four or five inches long. 

The silk thread and elastic should be fastened inside the coat sleeve at the top 
and of sufficient length to let the ring hang loosely an inch or two from the bot- 
tom, inside the cuff. It will be easily seen that a ring fastened in this manner is 
readily reached by the performer and will at once fly back out of sight when 
released. 

A ring arranged in this way may be of assistance in performing several tricks 
with rings. 

Take an ordinary piece of paper, and state to your audience that a ring 
wrapped in the paper cannot be taken from it without your consent. 

Pull the substitute ring, which should be in your left sleeve, into your fingers, 
dropping the borrowed one on to the table where it cannot be seen. Take the piece 
of paper before referred to and lay it on the table, placing on it the substitute 
ring, fold the paper in such a manner as to show the shape of the ring, but be- 
fore folding up the fourth side release the ring so that it will return to your 
sleeve. 

Having continued to fold the paper carefully, you again assert that the ring 
cannot be removed without your permission, and on asking one of the audience 
to undo the paper and try it. The reason why it cannot be removed will be 
seen as the paper will be empty. 

Having gained possession of the borrowed ring, you can find means to convey 
it to your assistant, who can arrange so that it may be made to appear in various 
ways. As pretty a way to end it as any is to have the assistant place it in the 
center of a nest of boxes which you bring forward when prepared and touching 
them with your wand, command the ring to appear in the center one, where it 
will be found when you or the audience investigate. 

KELLAR’S GREAT RING TRICK. 

During the first part of the performance in which Kellar is to do this trick, 
there remains in full view, suspended in the air, a wooden box, at the side of the 
stage. When the time arrives for the presentation of this particular feat, Prof. 
Kellar comes forward with a wand, upon the end of which he asks several per- 
sons to slip their rings. When, say half a dozen have been collected, the wizard 
drops what appear to be the same rings from the wand, upon a plate. His as- 
sistant hands him a revolver. He places one or two of the rings inside the bar- 
rel of the shooter, but finds that some of the others are too large, and in order 
that they may fit easily, he pounds them flat with a hammer, which, of course, 
causes considerable amusement. 

Having loaded his revolver with the rings, he calls attention to the box which 
is hanging at the other side of the stage, and asks the audience to recollect that 
all the while it has not been touched by himself or anybody else. Aiming at the 
box, he deliberately fires. 

Then he places the box upon a small table and unlocks it. Inside he finds a 
smaller box which he lifts out, and from this box he removes a smaller one, and 
so on until seven have been taken out, each a size smaller than the one previously 
shown. When the smallest is reached, it is handed to a spectator who is re- 
quested to open it. The interior reveals several rosebuds, (roses are Kellar’s 


ILLUSIONS WITH RINGS. 


a? 

favorites,) and on each bud is tied with ribbon, one of the borrowed rings. The 
buds, with rings are handed to the owners of the latter. The audience applaud 
and imagine this brilliant trick is concluded, but not yet, for when Kellar begins 
his next trick, that of producing various kinds of liquid from the same bot- 
tle, som® anxious person calls out that his ring has not been returned. At this, 
the prestldlditateur feigns surprise, but going to the stage, cracks the myster- 
ious bottle, from which comes a live Guinea-pig. Around the neck of the pig is 
a ribbon, upon which is the missing ring. This “accident” adds an amusing and 
startling finale to the trick. 

How is it done? I will explain as well as possible. 

Your wand should be quite slender, so that a ring will fit upon it easily. You 
should have several dummy finger rings of brass, some containing imitations of 
precious stones. The boxes should be made of wood — black walnut for instance, 
not over three-eights of an inch thick. They are nothing more or less than solid 
wooden boxes, with covers, except the next to the smallest; this has no bottom, 
the reason for which will be understood later. At least one table is needed, 
which should have a servante. A small, neat appearing table is best. Use an 
ordinary revolver if you like, but have a horn-like barrel which fits over the real 
barrel. See diagram: 



The bottle is especially made of tin or glass upon the plan of the inexhaust- 
able bottle. If this additional part of the trick is used, I would advise that the 
reader buy the bottle arrangement of a dealer in magical goods. An explana- 
tion of its interior arrangement would occupy considerable space here, and a 
novice who attempted to make one would probably meet with a failure, or at 
least could not make one as cheap as he can buy it for. The boxes and other 
necessaries for the trick are also sold by dealers, at prices considerably lower 
than you could make the same things for. Prof. W. D. Le Roy, of Boston, sup- 
plies this, and all other mechanical tricks. A letter addressed to him as above 
will bring you his catalogue. Bland, Martinka, Chase and Yost are also reliable 
manufacturers. 

Having the required “properties,” you are now ready to perform the trick. 
Before coining forward, place the six dummy rings on one end of your wand, 
and hold this end in your right hand in such a way that the rings cannot be seen. 
You will now allow persons to place the rings upon the other end of the wand. 
As you approach the stage, or even your table, with your back toward the spec- 
tators, grasp the borrowed rings in your left hand, at the same time allowing the 
bogus ones to slide down on the wand to take their places. Turning around 
naturally, you take up a plate with your left hand (which also holds the borrowed 
rings,) and allow the bogus rings to fall off the wand to the plate. Place the 
plate upon a chair and go to the “wing” of the stage for your revolver. This be- 
ing out of sight of the audience, gives you an opportunity to drop the real rings 
into your assistant’s hand. You then come to view with the revolver. Smash 
the rings, making humorous remarks, causing as much fun as possible to kill 
time. In the meanwhile, your confederate is attaching each ring to a rosebud, 
and these are placed in the smallest of the nest of boxes which he has in his pos- 
session. Having “loaded” the box, he places it upon the servante of the table, 
which is also behind scenes. 

The box which is suspended from a hook, contains the other boxes, (except 
the smallest,) one inside the other down to the second smallest, which you wiV 
remember contains no bottom. 


ILLUSIONS WITH RINGS . 


28 

When placing the broken rings in the revolver, take care that they do not enter 
the real barrel, but push them down between the outside of the real barrel and 
the inside of the extra one, or you can use a false barrel which contains a com- 
partment for holding them. You can now shoot at the box. In order that all 
may see what is inside the box when you open it, your assistant brings out the 
table, on the servante of which is the small box with rings on buds. Now take 
the large box from the hook where it is suspended and place it on the table, 
open it and manifest some surprise at finding therein another box which closely 
fits. This you remove and continue by taking out the others, placing them in 
pyramid style upon the table, until you come to the bottomless one. This you 
lift out closed, (taking care not to reveal the open underpart,) and when about 
to open the lid, push it over toward the back of the table, and lift into it the 
small box on the servante. When the box is opened, of course the smallest one 
is inside, which you can take out and place in the hands of one of the spectators, 
who upon opening it, finds the buds with jewelry inside. 

If you wish to add the bottle finale, your assistant when “loading” the rings 
into the box will lay aside one which he afterward attaches to a Guinea-pig’s 
neck. The little animal is placed inside the mechanical bottle, and the trick 
concludes as before described. 

No one should attempt to learn this trick who has not plenty of time to devote 
to its study and practice. It is one of the most effective parlor or stage tricks I 
have ever known. 

THE WIZARD’S RING. 

I will describe a simple trick, adding the “patter” to show how easily, ia 
the wizard’s business, a simple sleight can be made to appear as if it were a 
very complex one. 

The trick is, to place a ring in a goblet, and make it pass therefrom to the cen- 
tre of an orange, where it is found when the fruit is cut open. The properties of 
this trick consists of a duplicate ring, of any sort, which is attached by a four 
inch thread to the centre of a handkerchief. An orange is required, in which a 
slot has keen made previous to the opening of the trick. This slot is large enough 
to hold a ring when desired. A knife and goblet are also wanted. 

Borrow a ring, take it in your left hand and pretend to grasp it therefrom with 
your right, but in reality, allowing it to fall into the palm of the left. You do 
this by the pass known as le tourniquet, described in the chapter of coin tricks. 
Of course the audience must be led to believe that the ring is held in your right 
hand. With your left hand, (which contains the ring) pick up the handkerchief 
in which the duplicate ring is concealed. Pretend to place the borrowed ring 
in the centre of the handkerchief, which you apparently drop from your right 
hand, although it contains nothing. Having made this deceptive movement, you 
place the handkerchief over a goblet, in such a way that the false ring falls 
therein, making a jingling sound, which is to prove that the ring is really there. 
Having done this, request some one to hold the covered goblet tightly while you 
, go for an orange. As soon as you are out of sight, take the ring from the palm 
of your left hand and press it deeply into the aperture of the orange, which you 
bring forth. In order to prevent discovery of the fact that the fruit has been 
tampered with, have it wrapped at once in another handkerchief which some one 
may hold. 

Next take the goblet and place it upon a table. Lift up the handkerchief, that 
is over it, carefully, and the thread, to which the false ring is attached will bring 
that up also, under cover of the cloth, thus leaving the glass again empty. The 
handkerchief may be thrown aside or thrust in your pocket. Upon cutting the 
orange, the borrowed ring is found enclosed. 


ILLUSIONS WITH RINGS. 


Here Is the way to talk when presenting a trick of this sort: “Ladies and gen* 
tlemen: I will now show you a very wonderful experiment in the problem of 
rapid transit. We are ail aware of the many wonders that have been effected 
by the aid of electricity, but this feat is even exceeded by the subtle powers of 
the modern magician. A wizard’s control is best exerted upon precious stones 
or metals, and therefore, for the purpose of my experiment, I wish to borrow a 
gold lady’s ring— no, I mean a lady’s gold ring. Ah! here is one, thank you. 
yt seems to be solid, is very pretty. I will take it in my hand and place it in this 
handkerchief from which I will drop it into the glass here, which by the way, 
you all observe to be perfectly empty. There, you can hear it jingle. Will some- 
body please hold it. That’s right, sir. Now hold it carefully with both hands 
around the sides and don’t for the world move even a finger (the performer says 
this, so that the person will not attempt to lift the handkerchief too soon). Now 
I will get an orange.’’ 

“Here is the orange. Will some one please loan me another handkerchief. Very 
well, madam, this will be quite satisfactory; will you please hold the orange 
which is wrapped in your handkerchief.” 

“I will now proceed to perform the feat of causing an instantaneous transit 
of the ring here (take the goblet from the man’s hand and shake it) to the very 
centre of that fruit which the lady holds. ” It is possible that there are some people 
here who have sharp eyes, and if such persons will watch very closely, they may 
be able to detect the gold as it passes through the air in a fluid condition. Some- 
times, it goes in a narrow streak, much like the air, but more dense, like the 
milky way in the firmament, so that it is barely discemable. The ring is about 
V) go now. I will wave my wa»d. Presto Pass! It has gone from here. See, I 
lift the handkerchief carefully, to show you that the glass is entirely empty. 
Now, madam, please remove the wrapping from your orange and I will cut it 
with this knife. Ah ! my knife has struck something solid, let’s break open the 
fruit. Here inside, is the identical ring.” 

THE TRAVELING RING. 

Procure a piece of wire which has been sharpened to a point at each end and 
bend it around your finger so that it fits as a ring. When you are to perform 
the trick, have this palmed in your right hand. Ask somebody to loan you a 
plain band ring, also a handkerchief. Hold the borrowed ring visible in the 
fingers of the right hand, then with the left throw the handkerchief over it so 
that it is covered, and while thus removed from view, substitute the dummy for 
the real ring, palming the latter. With your left hand grasp the outside of the 
handkerchief in such a manner that the form of the false ring (which the au- 
dience believe to be the real one,) is apparent. In the meantime, take away 
your right hand which contains the borrowed one, which you hold naturally at 
your side. Give the handkerchief in which the “ring” is wrapped to somebody 
to hold, and at the same time adroitly slip the genuine ring into a spectator’s 
pocket. 

You can now pretend to manipulate the “ring” which is in the handkerchief 
held by one of the audience. Holding it in such a way that Its form shows, you 
cover the handkerchief with your hand and assert that the ring will soon disap- 
pear from there and pass through the air to some other place. You can quite 
easily manipulate the piece through the cloth by means of the sharp point, thus 
getting it secretly into your hand when you palm &. Then say that when you 
exclaim “presto,” the ring will be found in “so and so’s” pocket. You can thus 
terminate the trick very easily. 


10 


ILLUSIONS WITH WATCHES. 


CHAPTER IX. 

ILLUSIONS WITH WATCHES. 

I will now explain some tricks in which watches play a conspicuous part. 
Such sleights are usually popular, the old trick of smashing a borrowed watch 
and returning it, having been one of the earliest feats of the modem school of 
conjurers. A watch needs careful handling. The writer, who happened to have 
a trick of this sort in his repertoire, which was performed nightly for a season,! 
became exceedingly adept in tossing a borrowed watch to his assistant whilej 
reaching for a wand. On one occasion being slightly nervous, he missed aim; 
and the time-keeper went against a wall with considerable force. The quick- 
witted assistant who was to “load” the watch into a box, realizing the situation, 
placed a two dollar bill around it, which he deemed would pay the damages. 
When the watch was ultimately “restored,” I was not only able to say, “here is 
the watch again,” but “you observe that it comes back with a bank bill as in- 
terest.” The subterfuge “caught on” and as the lender of the watch was a good 
natured person, all ended well. However, I did not toss watches about as care- 
lessly after this instance. 

Ladies’ watches, being small, are easiest to handle. 

THE EDUCATED TIME-KEEPER, 

Procure a small magnet so that it can be concealed in your hand. It should be 
quite powerful. 

Borrow somebody’s watch and pretend to mesmerize it by blowing upon the 
glass over the dial. Then hold it up to the ear of one person and ask him to 
say whether or not it is ticking. He will answer in the affirmative. Next place 
it at the ear of another person, but on this occasion, hold it in the hand that 
contains the magnet. This will cause its interior motion to stop. The one who 
is listening will state that it is not ticking. You can make the watoh tick or not, 
as you desire, by this simple method, causing much consternation to the owner 
and amusement to the lookers on. 

THE SMASHED AND RESTORED WATCH. 

For this trick you need some specially prepared apparatus. Get a lady’s 
stocking, which should be of merino or cotton. At the top, near the opening, 
sew inside a pocket large enough to contain a lady’s watch. This pocket should 
be attached to one side of the stocking only, so that there will be no interference 
with the passage from top to toe. Next procure some pieces of glass, tin, etc., 
and if possible, one or two wheels, or parts of works of an old watch. Tie these 
into a little bundle surrounded with dark cloth, about the size of a watch and as 
heavy. 

A revolver with funnel shaped tube therein, (similar to the one used in the 
ring trick) should be on hand, also a loaf of bread in which a slot has been cut 
with a knife. The pistol and bread should be behind the scenes. Before begin- 
ning the trick, place the dummy watch inside the top of the stocking, (but no 
in the pocket,) and hold it in place close to the upper edge with your fingers. 
You can come forward, carelessly swinging the hosiery, and ask to borrow a 
lady’s watch. When this is handed you (no chain should be attached,) drop it 
into the pocket, at the same time releasing the false watch, which falls to the 
toe of the stocking, and w hich the audience believe to be the real time-piece. 
Now, while approaching the stage, remove Ihe watch from it’s resting place, 
palming it, w hich you can readily do. Tell the audience that you will swing the 
flocking in a circle, and will there by caus e the w atch (which you assert to be 


ILLUSIONS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS . 


31 


therein,) to tick faster. You can explain that the method will not injure the 
watch but that you will illustrate a newly discovered principle in science. 

You then begin to swing the stocking violently, at the same time talking to 
the audience, and apparently forgetting what you are about. While you are 
doing this, move about the stage (or room) and as if by accident let the dummy 
watch in the hose strike the wall with a “dull thud.” You become alarmed, as 
if an accident had really befallen the watch. Shake it and it rattles as if bro- 
ken. Express your regret, and offer the stocking and contents to the owner who 
will of course refuse to accept such in settlement. Finally after amusing the 
audience with your apparent fear, say that you will make an effort to repair the 
damage. Ask some little boy or girl to step forward to help you. When one 
has approached, drop the stocking containing the “damaged watch” on the 
floor and request the juvenile assistant to jump on it! This will create consid- 
erable amusement, not to- mention excitement and affords you an opportunity 
to carry off the palmed watch under pretense of going for the revolver and bread. 
While out of view, push the watch into the loaf, and bring it out with the shoot- 
ing piece. By this time, your assistant will have smashed the “watch” inside 
the stocking. You pick up the latter and pour therefrom, the broken pieces in- 
to the tube of the revolver. Placing the loaf of bread at a distance of several 
feet, shoot at the bread. Take a knife and cut the loaf, producing therefroni 
the watch which is completely restored. 

This trick is quite easily done by one who understands palming, and produces 
a surprising effect. Like all other effective tricks, however, considerable prac- 
tice is required before its production in public. 


CHAPTER X. 

ILLUSIONS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS. 

Usually the best material to use in a handkerchief trick is silk. It Is more pli- 
able and can more easily be crowded into a small space than if cotton or other 
material. 

KNOTTED HANDKERCHIEF. 

For this trick you will require two silk handkerchiefs. Twist them rope 
fashion and request some one to tie them, holding the two ends for them to do 
so. After this knot has been tied, take it in your hand apparently to tighten the 
knot, but in reality to pull it sharply the opposite way, which will draw the 
handkerchief in a straight line, forming a slip knot of the other. Request some 
one— a lady if possible, to breathe on the knots, when, taking the knotted part in 
your hand, you give a sleight pull to the other handkerchief and they will be 
perfectly straight and free from knots. 

Many performers do this trick by using six or more borrowed handkerchiefs 
,and requesting some one to tie them all together; as each one is tied you ap- 
parently draw the knots tighter, but in reality pull them into desired position 
each time until they are all done. 

Borrow a tall hat and place the handkerchiefs slowly in it with the left hand, 
pulling them loose with the right hand at the same time, one by one, as they are 
placed in the hat. As the knots have been drawn into required position it is an 
easy matter to draw them one by one from the loop which holds them. 

This way is very effective as the audience have seen the handkerchiefs tied 
and placed in the hat. You can ask for a little music and shake the handker- 
chiefs gently one by one from the hat so that they can be seen to fall perfectly 
free. The knot used is what is called a common reef knot . 


J2 


ILLUSIONS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS- 

the revolving handkerchief. 

Although this trick appears to be a marvelous feat of jugglery, it is very easy 
to perform and causes much admiration and praise for the performer. 

pring forward a large handkerchief — a new linen one is best for this purpose, 
and a wand or short stick. Throw the handkerchief into the air, catch it with 
the wand and cause it to whirl rapidly. You will occasionally toss it off the 
wand and catch it again still continuing the spinning. 



The whole secret of this juggler’s feat lies in a needle which you have pre- 
viously inserted in the end of the wand so that it projects about half an inch. 
When the handkerchief is thrown into the air, it is caught on this point, which 
by the way should be a fine needle. This is not to be seen by the audience, and 
the performer should act accordingly. This little trick can be worked to advan- 
tage, either as an opening trick, or as a conclusion to a more elaborate feat in 
which the handkerchief has piayed a part. For example, when a handkerchief 
is borrowed from the audience, the spinning can be performed before the hand 
kerchief is exchanged for a substitute, concealed under the vest of the per* 
former. Or again, at the conclusion of some handkerchief trick, before hand-} 
mg it back to its owner. This makes a bright and effective finish. 

VANISHING HANDKERCHIEF. 

This is simply a diversion, and can hardly be called a trick. 

Sew a fine white elastic cord to the center of a handkerchief and attach a 
strong string to the other end of elastic. Pass this up your sleeve and fasten to 
the sleeve of the other arm. Have the cord of such a length that the handker- 
chief will be drawn up your sleeve far enough to be about three inches from the 
bottom. 

Coming in front of your audience you remark that it is very warm, reaching 
back as if to take your handkerchief from your coat tail pocket, you take the 
opportunity to pull the handkerchief from your sleeve, holding it in such a man- 
ner that the string is not visible. Wipe your face and forehead and after doing so 
straighten your arm in front of you, at the same time releasing the handkerchief* 



ILLUSIONS WITS HANDKERCHIEFS. *3 

which of course vanishes up your sleeve. This trick can be repeated and is 
Always amusing. 

A HANDKERCHIEF WHICH CANNOT BE TIED. 

Borrow a large handkerchief— a silk one If possible, and twisting it like a rope, 
profess to tie a knot, or series of knots in it, but on pulling it the handkerchief 
comeB out quite straight. To do this you slip your left thumb under the tie be- 
fore pulling the knot tight. See illustration: 



ROPE AND HANDKERCHIEF. 


Show your audience a piece of rope twenty feet long, ordinary “clothesMne v 
Will answer, borrow a large handkerchief and request some one to tie your wrists 
together with it. Have the rope drawn through your arms, and ask the person 
holding the ends to draw tightly, bringing the rope between the -wrists running 
over and under the handkerchief. As the person holding the rope draws tightly and 
you pull against him, it brings the rope well down between the wrists. Slacken 
the rope slightly, and with the fingers of the right hand draw the rope through 
the handkerchief and slip the right hand through the loop of rope thus drawn. 
Then by making a slight sudden pull you will be free from the rope with your 
hands tied as before. 

This trick will require careful practice before it can be performed with the 
necessary rapidity. 

MAGIC PLUMES. 

This is a pretty and simple illusion, and with a little practice you can perform 
it successfully. 

Purchase a number of large feathers, about twenty is a good number, and a 
variety of colors is desirable. Take off your coat and lay ten of these plumes 
along each arm with the stems just low enough for you to take hold of easily. As 
these feathers lie closely you can move your arms freely without fear of detec- 
tion. 

Borrow a large silk handkerchief, shake it and draw it through your hands to 


m ILLUSIONS WITH HAWDinmCHIEFS. 

ibov that there is nothing concealed in it. While music is being played, shake 
the handkerchief in front of you, at the same time catching one of the stems 
and allowing the feather to fall to the floor. Repeat this until all the feathers 
have been produced, which will appear to be a large number when piled loosely 
on the floor. 

HANDKERCHIEFS TRANSFORMED. 

For this trick you will require three colored and three white handkerchiefs. 

Cut a piece from the center of one of the white handkerchiefs and a similar 
piece from one of the colored handkerchiefs. Fasten the colored center into the 
white handkerchief and the white one into the colored handkerchief, have these 
wrapped in a piece of paper and lay them at the back of your table. Have the 
bottom cut from two ordinary black glass wine bottles and insert a cork at the 
bottom of the neck of each bottle from the inside. In one bottle place a white 
handkerchief and in the other a colored one. Fill the necks of the bottles, one 
with Port and the other with Sherry wine, which the corks will keep from run- 
ning into the bottle where the handkerchiefs are. Put the Port wine into the 
bottle with the colored handkerchief and Sherry -with the white one. 

It will be necessary for you to have two confederates among your audience, 
one of whom will lend you the third white handkerchief and the other the 
colored one, so that when you ask for two handkerchiefs from your audience 
your confederates can be ready to supply you. 

Ask that some one in the audience will come forward to assist you and giving 
him a knife ask him to mark the borrowed handkerchiefs so they will be recog- 
nized again. If you hold them rightly he will cut a piece from the center in 
marking them. At this you can profess to be very much displeased and take 
the larger pieces and show them to the audience and supposed owners, saying 
that you will endeavor to repair the damage. Step to your table and in 
wrapping them in a paper substitute the package of handkerchiefs already pre- 
pared with the mismatched centers. 

Ask the person on the stage to hold this package well above his head in full 
view of the audience. Take the pieces which were cut from the centers of the 
borrowed handkerchiefs and burn them, placing what remains in your pistol. 
Aim at the package and say “one, two, three, handkerchiefs be made whole.” 
Firing at the package ask the gentleman holding the parcel to undo it, when 
much amusement will be occasioned from the fact that the white handkerchief 
has a red patch and vice versa. 

Tell your audience that you regret the blunder and will endeavor to correct it. 

Take both handkerchiefs and place them on a plate, pour a little spirits of 
wine over them and set Are to them. While they are burning ask the gentleman 
if he will take a little wine, and if he says yes, ask him if he prefers Port or 
Sherry. Give him a glass of which ever he chooses out of the prepared bottle, 
taking a glass from the other bottle yourself . By this time the handkerchiefs 
will be entirely burned and after loading your pistol put in the ashes from the 
handkerchiefs. Point the pistol toward the two bottles saying you intend to 
make the handkerchiefs appear in them. Count one, two, three, pass, and fire. 

Break the two bottles over your tray and show the handkerchiefs completely 
restored and return them to your friends. 

THIS WIZARD HANDKERCHIEF. 

This handkerchief is used to cause such articles as eggs, coins, cards or other 
articles of moderate size to disappear. 

Have two handkerchiefs of the same pattern stitched together around the 
edge, making an opening about four inches long in the middle of one of them 


ILLUSIONS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS. 


Sfi 


The handkerchiefs joined in this way form a pocket, and any article placed on 
the center of the handkerchief can be made to disappear by slipping it into the 
pocket in shaking the handkerchief. Care should be taken to have the slit 
toward you so that it will not be seen by the audience. 

Colored handkerchiefs are preferable in making this, and borrowed articles 
made to disappear in this way can be reproduced in many ways with good effect. 

CANDY PRODUCED PROM A HANDKERCHIEF. 

To produce this illusion a small bag is used similar to the following illustration: 



The first figure showing the bag open and the second showing it closed before 
the candies are released. Hang this bag filled with the candies from the back of 
your table where it will be concealed from the audience. Have a plate or tray 
on the table to hold the candies when released. Borrow a large handkerchief 
from some one and walking back to your table rest your hand with the handker- 
chief for an instant on the edge of the table, catching the hook in such a manner 
as to lift it with the handkerchief. Hold the handkerchief above the tray and 
passing your other hand over it release the slight fastening of the bag allowing 



the eandies to fall from inside, holding the handkerchief In such a manner thaf 


36 


ILLUSIONS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS. 


the bag is allowed to drop unobserved at the back of the table you return 
the handkerchief and toss the candies about to the audience. 

MAGIC EGG AND HANDKERCHIEF. 

For this illusion you will require a glass goblet, two small red silk handker- 
chiefs, a large silk handkerchief with a blown egg shell attached to the center 
by a silk thread three or four inches long, have also a metal egg painted white 
with an opening at the larger end. 

Having these in readiness, place the metal egg in the pocket and come for- 
ward with the goblet and small handkerchief in right hand, and in the other the 
larger handkerchief and blown egg, the handkerchief being thrown carelessly 
over the hand, while below the egg, rolled in very small compass, the other 
small handkerchief is concealed. 

Show the audience the goblet and small handkerchief, and place them on a 
chair. Next show the large handkerchief and egg, but in Each a manner that 
the audience will not discover the thread by which they are attached. 

Place the egg in the glass, covering it, the glass with the large handkerchief 
at the same time dropping into it the handkerchief which you had concealed in 
your hand. 

Show the smaller handkerchief and tell the audience you will cause it to dis- 
solve and pass inside the glass, and in its place the egg will appear. Place 
the glass on the table and while you are turned from the audience, take the 
metal egg from the pochette and palm it. Join your hands with the metal egg 
and small handkerchief concealed between and pretend to rub the handkerchief 
away but in reality work it into the opening in the end of the egg. When the 
handkerchief is all inside show the egg taking care to keep the opening concealed 
from the audience who will suppose it to have changed places with the handker- 
chief. Lift the larger handkerchief from the goblet taking it by the centre in 
such a manner as to conceal the attached egg-shell, showing the small handker- 
chief in the glass. The glass and small handkerchief may be examined by the 
audience if desired but other articles used should not be shown on any considera- 
tion. 

HANDKERCHIEF AND LEMON. 

Scoop the inside out of a lemon and place inside a substitute handkerchief. 
Place this on your table in view of your audience. Get several small pieces of 
cambric and roll in a small ball and place under your vest, have also a strip of 
cambric about a yard in length, roll this tightly and also place it under youi 
vest. Off the stage have ready a bag made of two sheets of paper into which 
you can slip a handkerchief quickly. 

Borrow a handkerchief from some one in the audience and roll it as tightly as 
possible in the hands. Ask some one in the audience to come on the stage, and 
while they are coming turn for an instant toward your table, making an oppor- 
tunity to slip the borrowed handkerchief under your vest and subsititute the roll 
of small pieces instead. Continue to roll these pieces in your hands, passing 
them to the person who has come on the stage, ask him to roll them. Turn for 
an instant from the audience, palming the strip of cambric which was concealed 
under your vest. Turn to the person from the audience who is on the stage and 
tell him he has been rubbing the handkerchief the wrong way ; ask him to shake 
it out, and as the small pieces fall, it will appear that he has rubbed it to pieces. 
Picking them up, you again roll them into a ball, but instead of giving him the 
small pieces, substitute the strip which you had palmed, retaining instead tht 
small pieces. 

Ask him to rub gently the pieces given him and turn to your table for an in 


ILLUSIONS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS. 


37 


stant, in doing so drop from your hand the small pieces which you had palmed. 
Turn again to the person and exclaim, “My dear sir, you are rubbing that the 
wrong way; see what you have done,” shaking out the strip of cambric at the 
same time. 

Ask him to hold this, leaving the stage to get your pistol, you hand the real 
handkerchief to your assistant, who places it out flat in the bag prepared for it 
and returns it to your table. You return with your pistol and pretend to force 
the strip of cambric into the barrel of the pistol, but in stepping to your table 
for your wand to push it down farther, you drop it on the back of the table. /. 

You now fire at the lemon, and take your knife, cut the end in strips, showing I 
the substitute handkerchief. Take it as if about to return it to its owner and re-| 
mark suddenly that it smells very strongly of the lemon, and that you will per- 
fume it a little before returning it. Sprinkle it with spirits of wine, then hold it 
to the flame of a candle as if to dry it; you allow it to take fire. Drop it on a 
plate and remark you are very sorry and offer it to the owner who will of course 
refuse it. Then take the ashes, being very sure that they are quite cold, and 
place them on the prepared sheet of paper and roll them up, fire your pistol at 
it again, picking up the paper, you tear it off in pieces, displaying the complete 
handkerchief inside. 

EGGS BROUGHT FROM A HANDKERCHIEF. 

To the edge of a large red silk handkerchief attach a blown egg by a fine black 
silk thread leaving the thread sufficient length to have the egg shell hang about 
to the centre of the handkerchief. Cover the egg shell with one corner of the 
handkerchief, and hold it thus concealed in your left hand, take the other corner 
in your right hand holding the handkerchief out straight, showing the audience 
both sides, to convince them that their is nothing concealed. 

Borrow from some one in the audience a tall hat, stating that you will show 
them an economical way to produce eggs. Hold the handkerchief in front of you 
allowing the egg to fall behind it where it will not be seen by the audience. Take 
the centre of the top edge where the silk thread is fastened in your teeth, draw- 
ing the two corners toward you. Hold them with your right hand taking the 
two lower corners in your left hand, shaking it gently holding it in such a way 
that the egg will fall into the hat, where the audience will suppose it to remain 
as the silk thread is invisible. 

While the egg is in the hat take the two bottom corners of the the handker- 
chief showing it again empty allowing it to hang down in front of the hat. Lift 
it again in such a manner that the egg will again be concealed, repeat as before; 
this can be done a number of times, until several eggs have been produced when . 
you can tell your audience that as you are not going to use the eggs you will give 
them away. Make a motion as if to throw them toward the audience when they 
will be found to have mysteriously disappeared. 

MYSTERIOUS HANDKERCHIEF AND NUMBERS. 

The articles required for this trick are a large white handkerchief, a piece of 
white soap pointed at one end and to be kept moist, a pistol, two envelopes 
with slips of paper inside. One envelope should be sealed, the other left open. 

Have the soap and handkerchief off the stage. On the front of the table place 
the unsealed envelope with the sealed one concealed at the back. 

When you are ready to perform the trick, ask some one in the audience to 
write on the slip of paper several numbers, sealing the slip in the envelope before 
returning it to you. Returning to your table with your envelope you secretly 
exchange the envelope with the numbers for the prepared one on your table and 


88 


TRICKS WITH DICE AND DOMINOES. 


hold the substitute to a lighted candle, allowing the ashes to drop on a plate. 
While this is being done your assistant should secure the envelope with the 
numbers and take it behind the scenes, open it and write the numbers on the 
handkerchief with the soap which should be quite moist. 

Having written the numbers, he should bring the handkerchief and place it on 
your table, marked side up. You may now load your pistol, placing the ashes 
of the burnt paper on top of the powder. 

Show the audience that the handkerchief is perfectly clear, and pin it to the 
curtain at the back of your stage, taking care to keep the marked side toward 
the audience. 

Take your pistol and inform the audience that with it you intend to cause the 
numbers to appear on handkerchief from the ashes of the paper on which they 
were written. 

Advance within six paces of the handkerchief and counting three, fire direct 
at the handkerchief— the ashes and powder from this pistol will adhere to the 
damp soap, causing the numbers written to appear instantly and sufficiently 
clear to be easily read by the audience. 

TO CUT A COIN FROM A HANDKERCHIEF. 

Take a piece of cambric about six inches square and in the centre place a quar- 
ter, give the ends a twist to hold the coin and place it under your vest at the left 
side. 

Borrow a handkerchief and a marked quarter and ask some one to step on the 
stage to assist you. Ask him to spread the handkerchief out smooth and place 
the coin in the centre of it, then to take the four corners of the handkerchief and 
knock the quarter against the table so that the audience may know that it is 
there. While this is being done take the prepared coin and cambric from your 
vest unobserved. 

Take the handkerchief and marked coin from the gentleman and passing it 
quickly through your hands palm the marked coin allowing the cambric with the 
substitute coin to appear instead. Ask the person assisting you to cut off the end 
of the handkerchief containing the coin. If he objects to this you can explain 
that you will make it right again. When he cuts the handkerchief, in reality the 
cambric, the coin will drop on the table. Now with the right hand place cut 
from the cambric in the light of a candle allowing it to burn and placing the 
ashes on the cut end of the cambric rubbing it gently until you have it ail in your 
hand you then go to pick up your wand dropping the cut piece of cambric and 
retaining only the handkerchief and marked coin in your hand. Roll the hand- 
kerchief and the coin, which will not be seen, in a piece of paper give it to the 
gentleman to hold. 

Take up the substitute coin in the left hand, making the pass to have it appear 
that you transfer it to the right, but in reality palming it in the left hand. Count 
one, two, three, pass, making a motion as if to throw the coin toward the gentle- 
man holding the handkerchief. Open your right hand showing it empty ; ask that 
the package be opened, when the marked coin will drop out and the handkerchief 
will be seen to be quite restored. 


CHAPTER XL 

TRICKS WITH DICE AND DOMINOES. 

The following described tricks, compiled principally from that celebrated work, 
“Modern Magic,” are easily performed and sometimes ereate considerable a» 

tonishment. 


tricks with: dice Aim dominoes. 39 

TO TELL THE NUMBERS ON A PAIR OF DICE, 

This is done by a simple arithmetical process. 

Ask some one to throw the dice without your seeing them, then tell him to 
choose one of the numbers and multiply it by two, add five and multiply this 
number by five and add the number on the remaining die. 

On his telling yon the result you subtract mentally twenty-five from the num- 
ber he has obtained and the remainder will be two figures representing the two 
numbers on the dice. 

Suppose the numbers thrown to be six, three. Six multiplied by two would be 
twelve— with five added make seventeen, multiplied by five is eighty-five, with 
three added make eighty-eight; from this take twenty-five and it gives as a result 
sixty -three — six, three, being the numbers thrown. This can be worked with the 
same result if the person throwing the die multiplies the three instead of the six, 
the result in that case being thirty-six instead of sixty-three. 

TO CHANGE THE NUMBERS ON DICE, 

Take an ordinary pair of dice and hold them in such a manner between the 
thumb and finger that the numbers visible to the audience are three, one, the 
three being the upper number. Ask one of the audience to tell the numbers, 
stating plainly which is the top one. This being done you state that by rubbing 
your fingers over them you cause them to change places by simply passing your 
finger over them. 

In bringing your hands together you turn the dice quarter way round. This 
will bring the next side of the dice toward the audience and the numbers will read 
one, three, instead of three, one, as before. This can be varied by again rubbing 
them with your finger. You can show the third side which will read six, four, 
and repeating the motion you show the fourth side which will be four, six. These 
numbers may be varied but care must always be taken to have similar numbers 
on two adjoining sides. 

TO TELL THE NUMBER OF DOMINOES MOVED. 

Without giving the audience an idea of special arrangement place a set of dom- 
inoes face down, in a row on the table. See that the first one in the row shall 
have twelve points, the next eleven, and so on until you reach double blank. This 
should leave you seven which are not placed and their order makes no special 
difference. 

Request the audience to remove any number of the dominoes, not exceeding 
twelve, from the right to the left hand end of the row, in other respects retaining 
their order. 

On your return to the room you state that with the aid of clairvoyance you will 
tell how many dominoes have been moved during your absence, and to show that 
there is no “confederate” assisting you you will also tell the number of spots on 
the dominoes moved. Tell them that you can also tell the number of points on 
each dominoe in its present position, facedown, as readily as when in the ordinary 
position; 1 

Count mentally the row to the thirteenth of the row from the left hand end, or 
the eighth from*the right hand end, place your wand on that dominoe and state 
that the points on that one represent the number of dominoes that have been 
moved in your absence. * Ask them before turning it the number that were moved; 
suppose the answer to be two you turn the dominoe and show that you were 
correct. As this one will give you the key to the arrangement of the others you 
can pick up others from the line, stating that it is double six, double blank, etc., 
before turning it, to prove that you are correct. 


40 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


It Is hardly necessary to state that this trick cannot be repeated, as to arrange 
the dominoes a second time would create suspicion. 

TO TELL. THE END NUMBERS ON A ROW OF DOMINOES. 

Take an ordinary set of dominoes and ask one of the audience to arrange them 
in a line face downward on the table during your absence from the room, making 
only the stipulation that they shall be arranged as in playing the game of domi- 
noes, that is with like numbers together. While this is being done you can leave 
the room and, without returning, or if the audience prefer, you can return blind- 
folded and tell the numbers at both ends of the row. 

A complete set has twenty-eight dominoes. These put with like numbers to- 
gether will form an endless chain, therefore if one of the dominoes is taken away 
the break will end with the two numbers on the domino taken away. Thus if you 
take two, four, away, one end of the line of dominoes will be two and the other 
four, the same if six, three, is taken. 

In taking away one of the dominoes do not take a double number, as in that 
case these would have no effect on the remaining numbers, which would still form 
the continuous chain spoken of. 

If you are desirous of repeating this trick it is best to make an opportunity to 
replace the first dominoe taken and substitute one with other numbers, as it 
would probably excite suspicion if the line ended in the same number twice. 

As this trick requires no practice and is very simple it Is more suitable for a 
parlor entertainment than a stage performance. 


CHAPTER XII. 

MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 

THE MYSTERIOUS ROSE. 

This is a very good illusion to perform upon your first entrance before your 
audience. 

Obtain a small artificial rosebud and about a half -yard of fine black elastic; 
fasten one end of this to the stem of the rose, and drawing the other end through 
the button-hole on the left side of your coat, secure the end drawn through the 
button-hole to the under button of your vest. Taking the rose, strain the elastic 
and place it under your left arm, so that immediately you release it the elastic 
will draw it through into your button-hole. 

Coming forward you ask if there is any lady or gentleman who would offer you 
a rose for your coat, adding however, that not caring to borrow what you would 
not return, you will use your own skill to produce one for yourself. 

Take your w'and in your right hand, and touching the button-hole command a 
rose to appear, at the same moment quickly raising your left arm the rose w r ill 
instantly be seen in your coat. 

TO PASS AN EGO INTO A BOTTLE. 

For this experiment steep an egg in strong vinegar or acetic acid for about 
twenty-four hours, which wall make the shell soft and pliable. 

Show your audience a real egg, and taking it to the table exchange it for the soft 
one, and showing a glass bottle inform your audience you will pass it through 
the neck inside the bottle. 

You will find it a very easy matter to do this, and when inside show it to your 
audience, and now saying you will take it out. Hold the neck of the bottle down- 
wards over a goblet half filled with water, and irentlv knocking the bottle the egg 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 41 

will fall through into the goblet, and upon going into the water will resume its 
former hardness. 

This is a capital illusion if only carefully performed. 

HOW TO EAT FIRE, TO BEND AND WALK ON RED-HOT IRON. 

This experiment, though in reality not a conjuring trick, yet as it always ap- 
pears so mysterious to the lookers-on, I will describe it. 

In the first place, purchase of a chemist one ounce of camphor and dissolve it 
in two ounces of aqua vitae, now add one ounce of liquid storax, and one ounce 
of quick silver, take two ounces of hematis and beat into a powder, and then mix 
all the above ingredients together. 

Annoint your feet and hands well with this mixture, and you will be enabled to 
hold red-hot iron in your hands and bend it, and also to walk barefoot on red-hot 
iron. 

Now to enable you to eat red-hot coals, etc., and to hold red-hot iron in your 
mouth. Get a small quantity of liquid storax and annoint your tongue and the 
inside of your mouth with it, taking care not to swallow any. 

By doing so you can astonish your audience by executing the marvelous feats 
as described above. 

Take care to annoint well before each time of performing this experiment, and 
I might mention that if it is done too often it will cause the skin of the performer 
to change color. 

THE CHINESE ROPES AND RINGS. 

Obtain two pieces of fine rope each about twelve or fourteen feet long, and tie 
the two ropes together in the center with a piece of black silk. 

Have two large brass rings, and commence by requesting three persons to 
come on the stage, giving two ends of the rope to one person, and two ends 
to another person, keeping both ropes held well together , request them to pull 
the rope to see that it is sound. When they l<ave done so take the rope from 
them, holding it by the center, and -walking towards your table to pick up the 
rings, fold each rope over and tie the rings exactly in the center, leaving the por- 
tion of the ropes tied together with the silk underneath the inner part of the 
rings, while the knot is outside. 

Now ask the third person to take off his coat, pass the two ends of the rope 
down one sleeve, and the other two ends down the other. Now request him to 
put his coat on, but this time having the back of the coat towards the front, lift- 
ing the rope with the rings tied in it over the person’s head so as to let the ring 
fall exactly between the shoulders. 

Draw the ends of the two rope* tightly, and place the person’s hands behind 
him and in this position tie an ordinary knot (single) the ends of the two ropes 
passing down each sleeve, allowing of this being done. 

Show your audience that his hands are really tied behind him ; and now, placing 
him with his face towards the audience, stand exactly at the back of him, and 
taking the ends of the rope, reverse their positions so as to bring the ends pass- 
ing down the right sleeve towards the left hand side, and the ends passing down 
the left sleeve to the right hand side, and hand these ends to each of the other 
two persons, requesting them to hold them tightly and to pull sharply when you 
call “three.” 

Keeping your left hand plaoed on the person’s left shoulder, take the rings in 
your right hand, saying” one, two, three,” you give the rings a sharp pull, break- 
ing the silk thread and releasing the rings, and at the same moment each person 
pulls the ends he is holding with a sharp movement; the ropes will pass down 
the sleeves and appear perfectly straight and free from the knots, wbile you ex- 
hibit the rings also free from the rope in your right hand. 


48 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


This is a capital illusion, but will require a great deal of practice on the part of 
the student before he can accomplish it dexterously. 

THE MAGICAL MIRROR. 

This illusion is really a marvelous on®. 

Provide yourself with an ordinary looking-glass, about sixteen Inches long, by 
eight inches wide, and obtain a pieoe of hard French chalk, point it with a knife 
and draw upon the surface of the glass any design or words you think fit. 

After having written on the surface of the glass, take a silk pocket handker- 
chief and lightly wipe the face of it over, and the surface of the glass will appear 
to be without a mark of any kind, and perfectly clear. 

Having this ready, bring it forward and introduce it to your audience, and 
showing it to them with a clean surface, request some lady to gently breathe on 
the face of this looking-glass, when the characters and designs you wrote upon 
the glass will be instantly visible. 

You can again wipe it off carefully with your handkerchief, and upon another 
person breathing upon its surface again, the writing will again be visible. 

This can be repeated as often as the performer chooses. 

TO EXTINGUISH THREE CANDLES AND LIGHT THREE OTHERS AT COMMAND. 

For this illusion you must provide yourself with six wax candles, and after 
having all lighted for a short time, blow them out, and when quite cold take 
three of them and splitting the wicks with a penknife, place a small piece of 
phosphorus about the size of a millet seed into the small slit thus cut in the wick. 

Place all the candles in the candle-sticks, and place them on your table in a 
straight row, and light the three candles xoithout the phosphorus. 

Having this ready, draw the attention of your audience to them, and say that 
at your command the three lighted candles will be extinguished, while the other 
three will be instantly lit in their stead. 

Load your pistol, and standing near your table in a direct line with the candles, 
point exactly at them, fire the weapon, when the first three will be extinguished 
by the powder, and the other three containing the phosphorus will be lighted. 

This requires a great deal of care before it can be executed neatly. 

TO CHANGE AN EGG INTO A BIRD. 

For this illusion it is necessary for the student to be able to palm an egg. 

Provide yourself with two large sized eggs and divide one in the middle, and 
throw the contents away, wiping the inside clean and dry. 

Now take a small bird, and placing it inside, join the two shells together, gum- 
ming a thin piece of paper over the edges, and prick a small hole in end to allow 
the bird to obtain air. 

Have this palmed in your left hand, and coming forward show your audience 
the real egg in your right, allowing them to examine it. Upon its being returned 
make the pass as if transferring it to your left hand, but palming it with the 
right, at the same time showing the prepared egg in your left hand. 

Walk to your table to pick up a plate, taking the opportunity of dropping the 
palmed egg from your right hand into your pochette or profonde , and picking 
up the plate with that hand, place the egg upon it. 

Then taking up your wand, command the egg to change into a live bird, touch- 
ing it with your wand at the same time. 

Mow break the shell, quickly crushing it up in your hand and throwing It on the 
floor, and the live bird will be seen on the plate, and will no doubt fly over the 
heads of your audience. 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


48 


TO PULL YARDS AND YARDS OF PAPER FROM YOUR MOUTH, 

Obtain several sheets of colored tissue paper and cut them into strips about an 
inch wide and gum them end to end, and when dry roll up the lengths thus ob- 
tained into several small coils, leaving a piece projecting from each center. 

Having a large plate filled with cuttings and scraps of the same sort of paper 
and have this on your table. 

Conceal the coils of paper in your hands and being ready, request a lad to come 
on the stage and ask him to partake of supper -with you. 

Hand him some of the paper cuttings to eat, taking some yourself and pretend- 
ing to eat it, take the opportunity of slipping into your mouth one of the small 
coils and taking the end, draw it out of your mouth, telling the lad to do the 
same, whioh of course he cannot do. 

When the first coil is finished, place apparently in your mouth a few more of 
the paper cuttings, att the same time under cover of your hand slip in another 
coil, which produce as before, and continue this until you have finished all the 
coils you have palmed. 

BLOOD WRITING ON THE ARM. 

For this illusion you must have a confederate sitting in the audience, and agree 
with him beforehand to write a certain word on a piece of paper; for example, 
say the word “James.” 

Now draw back the sleeve of your coat and shirt, and with a piece of soap 
pointed fine, write the same word on your arm and draw down your shirt and 
coat sleeves again. 

Have an envelope with a piece of paper in it and bringing this forward, re- 
quest some person to write a word upon the piece of paper and seal it. 

Your confederate, of course sitting in front, takes the paper from you, and 
having written the word, which he takes care to show to the others sitting near 
him, he places in the envelope and seals it and returns it to you. 

As soon as you have received it you hold it in the flame of a candle until it is 
reduced to ashes. Now turning back your sleeves, you rub the ashes on your 
arm, the ashes will adhere to the soap marks which your audience cannot 
see, and to their astonishment the word “James” will appear as if printed on 
your arm. 

VANISHING KNIFE. 

Procure two large knives which are exactly similar. Place one of these in your 
boot-leg, allowing the handle to pass up your trouser-leg. 

Have the second knife and a piece of ordinary brown wrapping paper on your 
table. Pass this knife around for examination, and taking it back to your table, 
proceed to wrap it in the paper, pressing it well to give the paper the impression 
of the knife, in closing the end of the paper away from the audience, allow the 
knife to slip out on to the servante , continuing to wrap the package as though 
the knife were still inside. 

Show your paper with the knife apparently inside, and state that you intend 
to swallow it, throwing back your head, place the end of the paper in your 
mouth, make a motion as if swallowing something large. 

Opening the paper the knife will have disappeared. Place your hands on your 
breast and make a motion as if forcing something down, gently rubbing toward 
the boot where the knife is hidden, you lift your trousers slightly and show the 
knife which you can again pass around for examination. 

EATABLE CANDLES. 

This Illusion can sometimes be used for the amusement of juvenile audiencea 




miscellaneous thicks. 


From a large apple cut two pieces of size and shape to represent two candles. 
Cut two small bits from an almond and fasten to the top of the supposed candles. 

Light the wick or piece of almond and it will burn like an ordinary candle, tell 
your audience that in extensive travels you have learned the habits of foreign 
countries, that in Russia it is common for people to eat common tallow 
candles, and when there you contracted the same habit, and with their 
permission, you will eat the two you now have burning on your table, where- 
upon you blow them out and proceed to eat them to the surprise and amuse- 
ment of your audience. 

THE MAGIC BLACKBOARD. 

Obtain a piece of board about eighteen inches by twelve and let this be painted 
a dead black on both sides. Now get a piece of cardboard painted also a dead 
black to match the board, and cut out the shape of a skeleton. Attach the arms 
and legs with black thread to the body and connect them one with the other by 
means of another thread across from arm to arm, and leg to leg with another 
piece connected with each of these so that when the figure is held by the head 
and this thread is pulled, it causes the figure to throw up its arms and legs. 

Have a small tack in the board towards the top, and on this hang the skeleton. 
Now bring forward the board with a piece of chalk and show the blank side only. 
Now with the chalk make two or three attempts to draw a figure, but rub it out 
as if unsatisfactory; turn the board and the black figure will not be perceived; 
rapidly with the chalk touch the edges-of the figure, filling up the ribs, etc., and 
taking care that nothing moves while you are doing the drawing. 

Pass your hand slowly to and fro over the figure, and asking for a little music, 
you take hold of the thread below the figure. This thread when you pull it will 
cause the figure to throw its limbs about, much to the astonishment of every one 
who will imagine it is the figure you have just drawn on the board. 

THE EGG BAG. 

This bag is made double, and is about eighteen inches in width, by fifteen in 
depth. The double side is stitched all round except a few inches at one corner 
In the bottom of bag. 

Between the double sides and close to the top is fixed a row of little pockets, 
each capable of holding an egg which is prevented from falling by a small piece 
elastic, sewn round the mouth or neck of the pocket. 

The eggs used are all blown eggs, except one, and are placed one in each of the 
pockets. Each egg can be released by squeezing through the thickness of the 
bag causing it to fall to the bottom, and by holding the bag with one end slightly 
down where the small space is left, the egg will fall through into the outer bag. 
When the eggs are all placed in the pockets, the bag is shown and turned inside 
out, keep the double side towards your body and show the bag empty, but the 
moment it has been returned, you bring out an egg and so on until you have 
produced them all. 

The real egg is placed in the bag and on producing it, you break it, thus lead- 
ing the audience to imagine that all the eggs were real. Some performers use 
bags similar to the above, but with the bottom portion made of net work so that 
the audience can see each egg as it falls to tho bottom. 

TO PRODUCE EGGS FROM A PERSON’S MOUTH. 

For this trick you provide yourself with five blown eggs, and have these 
placed under the waistband of the waistcoat. You must now place in the mouth 
of your assistant a small egg, and having all ready, 6tep forward with a plate 
and inform your audience that your assistant is suffering from an overloaded 
Stomach and with their permission you will relieve him. 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


48 


Placing him in the center of the stage, you hand him the plate and at the same 
moment secretly take from under your waistcoat one of the concealed eggs, and 
palming it with your right hand, you pat your assistant on the head, and he 
gradually opens his mouth and the eg g Is seen; the performer immediately 
raises his right hand as if to receive it, and as he covers the assistant’s mouth he 
closes it, the egg again going back. 

Exhibiting the palmed egg, the performer places it in the plate. Patting his 
assistant on the head as before, the performer again secretly taking another of 
the concealed eggs from his waistcoat produces a second and so on until he has 
disposed of the five and then repeating the same movement as before, he takes 
;the sixth and last egg really from his assistant’s mouth. 

f This illusion (if performed well) never fails to surprise the audience, as they 
aturally conclude that the eggs all came from the assistant’s mouth. 

THE MAGIC BLOW MILL. 

This little piece of apparatus is made of tin, japanned over, and is so con- 
structed that when blown, the mill will turn ; but if the bottom is sleightly turned 
round the person blowing it gets his face covered with lamp black, which is 
blown out of two small tubes. This is caused by the inside being filled with 
lamp black, and when the bottom of the mill is moved it causes the inner tube to 
move round, bringing the two small holes opposite the bottom or blowing tube. 

This little piece of apparatus is very useful where the performer finds that 
some volunteer from the audience who may come on the stage to assist in some 
trick is, or fancies himself, extremely clever and knowing. 

Introducing this mill to him, you blow it yourself, causing it to revolve, and 
handing it to him, at the same time turning the bottom, ask him to blow into the 
little mill and the result will be a black face similar to a sweep’s, much to his dis- 
comfiture and the amusement of the audience. 

TO PRODUCE BOWLS OF FISH AND FIRE FROM A BORROWED SHAWL. 

For this pretty illusion you must procure two or three glass saucer-shaped 
bowls, fill these with water, and put in a few gold fish, place on them the 
India rubber covers with which they are provided. Have these placed in 
your secret pockets and coming forward, borrow a small shawl from some 
lady in the audience, shake it well to and fro in the air, throwing one end of 
the shawl over your shoulder, instantly under cover of it take from your 
pocket one of the bowls of fish, clipping off the India rubber cover, pro- 
duce the bowl in your right hand from under the shawl and show your audience. 

Repeat this until you have produced all the bowls, taking care to secretly slip 
the covers from off the bowls into your pockets each time. Some performers 
produce four, five and even six bowls. This is don'e by having a couple of 
pockets suspended round the waist by means of a tight band fastened under- 
neath the waistcoat and hidden under the coat tails. 

This is also a specially made bowl, which apparently is the same as the others, 
but which is in reality covered at the top with glass, the only opening being a 
small one on the under part of the bowl, and this, when the bowl is filled with 
water is fitted with a tight fitting cork. 

Therefore it is obvious to the student that this is used as a disappearing bowl, 
and is in the working, exactly similar to the flying glass of water trick, hav- 
ing a small shoulder shawl fitted with a ring in the center, and in placing the 
shawl over the bowl the performer takes hold of the ring, and under cover of 
the shawl returns the bowl to his secret pocket in the breast of his coat. 

When the performer wishes to produce bowls of fire, he must provide himself 
with bowls made of thin polished brasa t t he same shape as the fish bowls, but 


46 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


these have no covers,, and are filled with tow moistened with spirits of wine and 
kept in the bowls by means of wires crossing the bowl. 

This Is lit by means of a wax match struck on the bowl under cover of the 
shawl, and are thus produced, the contents being all ablaze. 

TO CAUSE A PERSON’S NAME WHITTEN ON A PIECE OF PAPER TO BE FOUND IN 

AN EQO. 

Obtain an egg and in the large end make a small hole and have a small piece 
of gummed paper ready beside it; have this off the stage. Now get two small 
envelopes, and seal one up and place it on the back of your table; in the other 
envelope have a small piece of paper. 

Commence by asking one of your audience to write a name or his own name 
on the piece of paper within the envelope, and when he has done so to seal it up. 

When this is done, take it to your table, and allowing your hand to fall for an 
instant, drop it on your servante, quickly taking the substitute instead. 

Light your candle, and hold the envelope in the flame until reduced to ashes. 
Show this to your audience, and loading your pistol, place the ashes into the 
barrel on top of the powder, ramming the charge well down. 

Your assistant has in the meanwhile secured the real envelope, and taking it 
off the stage, takes out the paper with the name on it, and rolling it up small, 
forces into the egg through the hole already made and gums the small piece 
of paper over it. Placing this in an egg-cup and on a plate he brings it on the 
stage and places it on your center table. By this time you will have loaded your 
pistol, and apparently looking for something to fire at, catch sight of the egg 
and fire at it. Taking it out of the egg-cup and holding the plate, you request 
some one to step forward, and handing the plate to him you break the egg, and 
in the center of it will be seen the piece of paper, which, when picked out and 
opened, will be found to be the same as written by the person in your audience. 

THE MYSTERIOUS PIGEON. 

In your left breast pocket place a small pigeon. Now commence by borrow- 
ing a tall hat, and while taking it to the table turn suddenly around and ask for 
another one, and again walk to your table, but secretly drop the pigeon into one 
of the hats this time. 

Place this hat on the table and put the other on the top of it, placing them 
brim to brim. Now ask some person to lend you a quarter dollar, and inform your 
audience you intend to pass it into the bottom hat invisibly, and ask them how 
they would like it to fall, head or tail up. Some will cry one and some the other; 
having the coin in your left hand make the pass to take it in your right, but 
palming it, and taking your wand in your left hand, pretend to throw the coin 
towards the hat, at the same time opening your right hand show it empty. 

Now request some person to step forward and lift the top hat and ask him to 
say whether he finds it “head” or “tail.” When he lifts the hat, he will no 
doubt say it is both, and asking him to take it out, show the pigeon to your au- 
dience, much to their surprise. 

As regards the borrowed quarter dollar, the student will have no difficulty in 
producing this from some piece of apparatus already described. 

This trick requires the performer to show a great amount of humor and mer< 
riment in performing it. 

TO PASS A FIVE DOLLAR NOTE INTO A LIGHTED CANDLE. 

Get ready a piece of wax candle about three inches long and scoop out the 
center, and have one end stopped by a piece of wax. Have this off the stage 
Now have on your table four wax candles alight, and commence by requesting 
some person to lend you a five dollar note. Upon Receiving this, take it to youi 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


table and fold it In a small piece of white paper. 

Then step forward, pour a little spirits of wine upon the paper, and placing it 
on a plate set fire to it. While you are doing this, your assistant will secure the 
bank note and folding it up small, place it in the hollow of the piece of candle, 
stopping the end up with wax, bring it again on the stage and place on the 
back of the table ready for you. 

Loading your pistol, you place the ashes of the burnt paper in it, and turning 
to your audience, ask them which candle they would like you to fire the bank 
note into; when they have selected one of the lighted candles, you fire at it, and 
placing your pistol down, walk to the back of your table for a knife, at the same 
time picking up and palming the prepared candle. 

Placing the candle on your table you cut it into pieces, and the center piece 
drop as if by accident on to the floor, and stooping to pick it up with the left 
hand you apparently transfer it to your right, but in reality palm it, and produce 
the prepared piece in its stead, and cutting this again across, you show the bank 
note in the candle, and taking it out open it and pass it to its owner. 

In the meanwhile you must secretly conceal the other piece of candle by 
dropping it into your left pochette. 

The performer will no doubt find it extremely difficult to borrow a bank note 
at times, and in that case he must borrow a letter, a cutting out of a newspaper, 
or anything of that kind, which, of course he can produce equally as well as a bank 
note, which is used simply to create a little more sensation amongst the audience. 
The student will require a deal of practice before he can become expert with the 
above illusion. 

THE INEXHAUSTIBLE BOTTLE. 

Have a tin bottle made exactly the shape of an ordinary bottle, and let the in- 
terior be divided into six compartments, with an opening to each in the neck. 
On the outside of the bottle and opposite each compartment, have a small pin- 
hole drilled. Have the bottle japanned black, and it will look in appearance as 
if it Avas a black glass wine bottle. 

Have a small funnel and pour into each compartment six different wines, such 
as port, sherry, etc., until they are all filled, but take care before you do so to 
stick a small piece of gelatine over each of the small pin-holes before mentioned. 
Have this ready on your table or rather on the servante, and on your table have 
a plain black glass bottle, half filled with water, a tumbler and six wine glasses. 

Be sure the glass bottle is similar in appearance to your tin one. Now com- 
mence by showing your audience the glass bottle, and to show them it really 
contains water— pour out a tumbler and drink it off. Holding the bottle down 
with your left hand, drop it on the servante and picking up the tin bottle, it will 
appear as if it was the same to your audience. 

Now tell your audience that having poured out a glass of water for yourself 
you intend to offer them something better, and taking the bottle by the center, 
scrape off the gelatine with one of your finger-nails from the first compartment, 
and pour out the wine as far as it will go. 

Hand this to your audience and let them drink it. Now repeat the same with 
the second compartment and so on until you have finished, and allowing the bot- 
tle to drop down for a moment in your left hand, place it on your servante and 
pick up the glass bottle. Then hand the wine last produoed to your audience 
and again taking up the tumbler, pour out of the bottle the remainder of the 
water, and hand the bottle to your audience to examine, and they will be 
amazed because to them it would appear as if all the different liquors came out 
of the glass bottle. There is an improvement in the trick described above, that 
kistead of using a tin bottle for the wines, it is produced in reality from a glass 
one, this glass bottle being ttonsu uwfcoa wm the same principle, but I think If the 


48 MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 

student follows my instruction in working the above trick, he will create quite 
as much sensation. 

CURB FOB TROUBLESOME SPECTATORS. 

It will sometimes happen at an early stage of the performance that the ulti- 
mate success of the whole is likely to be endangered by a troublesome person 
(generally a naughty boy), who will persist in crying out, “I know how it is 
done!”— at the same time continually advancing to the table, from which it i^ 
of course, the business of the conjurer to keep his youthful admirers away. | 
Should this be the case the magic whistles may be produced, and the remarlp 
made that now the troublesome boy shall show the company a trick. Having i 
taken up one of the whistles, which has previously been filled with flour or mag- 
nesia, dust or soot, proceed to give a few directions, particularly impressing on 
him the necessity of blowing hard, because the whistle you place in his hands is 
perforated with a number of holes. The would-be magician is, therefore, excess- 
ively mortified, on applying his mouth and blowing hard, to receive the powdei 
in his face. Any turner will make such a whistle, it being nothing more than the 
usual shaped toy perforated at the top with a number of holes. 

TO EAT A PECK OF PAPER SHAVINOS, AND CONVERT THEM INTO A RIBBON. 

Shouts of laughter generally arise from the audience while the magician 
“stows away,” down his bottomless throat, the heaps of paper before him; but 
when he “brings up” yards upon yards of ribbon, as a proof of bad digestion, 
the “splitting sides burst with applause.” This, like the best illusions, is exceed- 
ingly simple; but, to carry it off well, requires a little gesticulation and comic 
spirit in the illusionist. Procure fifteen separate yards of different colored rib- 
bon, of the width which is sold at about three cents a yard; sew them together 
to form one length, joining the contrasting colors; then roll it up neatly around 
Itself, and it will be about the size of four half-dollars put together. Now obtain 
some white paper shavings from a book-binder; shake them up lightly, and they 
will look like a bushel. When you begin the trick, take the roll of ribbon in the 
left hand, which with a few shavings is effectually hidden, then “set to” and eat 
your paper; as you feed, by pretending to thrust an extra handful down the 
throat from time to time, you can easily manage to withdraw the masticated 
portions unseen and carry them down to the ground, as you lift other “tidbits” 
to the mouth. After this has continued long enough, that is, when your visitors 
have laughed “till their sides ache,” the shavings are now and then pressed up, 
which gives the appearance of diminished quantity; finally a last effort is made 
“to finish it,” and you then pop the roll of ribbon in the mouth, and throwing 
the remaining shavings on the floor, you take hold of the end of the ribbon and be- 
gin to unwind it; by drawing it gradually from the mouth it will appear as though 
it came from the stomach. The teeth must be kept close enough to prevent the 
entire roll from being pulled out altogether. When cleverly performed, this 
trick is one of the best pieces of fun which the magician exhibits. 

THE POKER PUZZLE. 

This feat is to be performed with a common fire poker, which you must hold 
near the top between the fingers and the thumb. You must then, by the mere 
motion of the finger and the thumb, work the poker upwards, until the slender 
part be moved up to the hand, while the poker remains perpendicular during 
the whole process. For the first few times that this is attempted to be done con- 
siderable difficulty will be experienced, as it not only requires strength in the 
fingers proportionate to the weight of the poker, but also a certain 
Which can only be acquired bj .practice. 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


40 


MAGICAL ILLUSIONS. 

Suspend a white transparent cloth from the ceiling, and behind it place a very 
powerful light. If we recede from the screen our figure will become en- 
larged to a gigantic stature; and, on the contrary, if we approach it, and 
stand exactly between the light and the screen, our figure will be more 
accurately defined; but, by jumping over the light, we shall appear, 
to persons looking upon the screen, as having ascended to such a great height 
as entirely to have disappeared. By nimble attitudes and grotesque move- 
ments, and a tasteful introduction of some animals, the effect will be much 
heightened, and laughter, which is good for the heart that is sad, will be excited. 

THE ERRATIC EGG. 


Transfer the egg from one wine-glass to the other and back again to its origi- 
nal position, without toughing the egg or glasses, or allowing any person or any 
thing to touch them. To perform this trick, all that you have to do is to blow 
smartly on one side of the egg, and it will hop into the next glass; repeat this 
and it will hop back again. 

THE TWO COMMUNICATIVE BUSTS. 

Having procured two busts of plaster of Paris, place them on pedestals on op- 
posite sides of the room. Let a thin tube, an inch in diameter, pass from the 
ear of one head through the pedestal, under the floor, and go up to the mouth of 
the other, taking care that the end of the tube that is next the ear of the one 
head should be considerably larger than that end which comes to the mouth of 
the other. Now, when a person speaks quite low into the ear of one bust, the 
sound is reverberated through the length of the tube, and will be distinctly 
heard by any one placing his ear to the mouth of the other. It is not necessary 
that the tube should come to the lips of the bust. If there be two tubes, one go- 
ing to the ear, and the other to the mouth of each head, two persons may con- 
verse together by whispers, without the knowledge of any other person in the 
room. 

THE CHEST THAT OPENS AT COMMAND. 

Within this chest there is a small figure of Mahomet, in the body of which is a 
spring made of brass wire, twisted in a spiral form. By this means the little 
figure, though higher than the chest, can, by the accommodation of the spring, 
be contained within when it is shut, as the spring in the body closes and 
shortens. The chest is placed on levers concealed on the table, which communi- 
cate their motion, by the assistance of the confederate, to the bolt of the lock, as 
soon as the staple is disengaged. The spring in the body of the figure, finding 
no resistance but the weight of the lid, forces it open. 

HOW TO EAT TOW, AND SET IT ON FIRE IN YOUR MOUTH. 

Take a handful of tow in your left hand, then take a part of it with your right 
hand and put it into your mouth, chew it and seem to swallow it; and when 
your mouth cannot hold more, put the bundle of tow you have in your left hand 
to your mouth, in order to eat more, then disgorge what you have in your 
mouth . All this while you must have a piece of touchwood lighted, and wrapped 
in some you have to eat. 

HOW TO TELL THE NUMBER THAT ANY PERSON THINKS OF. 

Bid the person double the number he has fixed on in his mind; which done, 
bid him multiply the sum of them both by 5 and give you the product, which 
thay ■win never refuse to do (it being so far above th^ji umber thought oO» from 


99 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


which, If you cut off the last figure of the product, will always be a cypher or a 
S— the number left will be that first thought of. As for example : let the num- 
ber thought of be 26, which doubled makes 52; that multiplied by 5 produces 260; 
then, if you take away the cypher which is in the last place, there will remain 
26, the number thought of. 

• THE ENCHANTED COCK. 

Bring a cock into a room, with both your hands close to its wings, and hold 
them tight; put him on a table, and point his beak down as straight as possible; 
then let any one draw a line with a piece of chalk directly from its beak, and all 
the noise you can possibly make will not disturb him for some time, from the 
seeming lethargy which that position you have lain him in has effected. 

TO MAK1E FIRE burn under water. 

Take three ounces of powder, of saltpetre one ounce, sulphur-vivium three 
ounces; beat, sift and mix them well together, fill a pasteboard or paper mould 
with the composition, and it will burn under water till quite spent. 

TO PRODUCE A MOUSE FROM A PACK OP CARDS. 

Have a pack of cards fastened together at the edges, but open in the middle 
like a box, a whole card being glued on as a cover, and many loose ones placed 
above it, which require to be dexterously shuffled, so that the entire may seem a 
real pack of cards. The bottom must likewise be a whole card, glued to the box 
on one side only, yielding immediately to interior pressure, and serving as a 
door by which you can convey the mouse into the box. Being thus prepared, 
and holding the bottom tight with your hand, request one of the company to 
place his open hands together, and tell him you mean to produce something 
marvelous from this pack of cards; place the cards then in his hands, and while 
you engage his attention in conversation, affect to want something out of your 
bag, and at the same moment take the pack by the middle and throw it into the 
bag, when the mouse will remain in the hands of the person who held the cards. 

TO TELL THE HOUR OF THE DAY OR NIGHT BY A SUSPENDED QUARTER. 

Sling a quarter or a dime at the end of a piece of thread by means of a loop; 
then resting your elbow upon a table, hold the other end of the thread between 
your forefinger and thumb, observing to let it pass across the ball of the thumb, 
and thus suspend the coin in an empty goblet. Observe, your hand must be per- 
fectly steady; and if you find it difficult to keep it in an immovable posture, it is 
useless to attempt the experiment. Premising that the quarter is properly sus- 
pended, you will find that, when it has recovered its equilibrium, it will for a 
moment be stationary; it will then, of its own accord and without the least 
agency from the person holding it, assume the action of a pendulum, vibrating 
from side to side of the glass, and after a few seconds will strike the hour near- 
est to the time of day ; for instance, if the time be twenty-five minutes past six, 
it will strike seven, and so on of any other hour. It is necessary to observe that 
the thread should lie over the pulse of the thumb, and this may in some measure 
. account for the vibration of the quarter, but to what cause its striking the pre- 
cise hour is to be traced remains unexplained; for it is no less astonishing than 
true, that when it has struck the proper number its vibration ceases, it acquires 
a kind of rotary motion and at last becomes stationary as before. 

AN AMUSING TRICK FOR THE DRAWING-ROOM, AND A GOOD SUBJECT FOR A WAGER. 

You begin by declaring that if any one will write something on a piece of 
paper, you will undertake to say what there is upon it. Should any one take 
you, tell him, when be hits written something ©n a piece of paper, to roll it up 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


51 

small and hold the paper straight up in his hand ; and, after making him hold it 
up a number of different ways, say, “Now place the paper on the floor in the 
middle of the room, and in order that I may not have the chance of lifting it up 
In the least, place both your feet upon it; I will then proceed to take up a candle, 
a stick, or anything else you please, and inform you at once what is on the 
paper.'” After going through all sorts of manoeuvres, to mislead the spectators 
and keep alive their curiosity, you finally turn to the gentleman who is standing 
with both feet on the paper, remarking, “I have undertaken to state what was 
upon that piece of paper. You are upon it.” With many a hearty laugh, you 
will be declared the winner of the bet. 

A SELF-WORKING TURNSPIT. 

If you are cooking a small bird for roasting, make a spit out*of a piece of green 
hazel and set it before the fire. The wood being green, the bird and spit will re- 
volve together. 

THE MAGIC SNUFF BOX. 

You make a slit In the side of a paper snuff box, large enough to let a dollar 
piece slip in and out easily; in the place of this slit you put a piece of black 
paper, flat, and which does not interfere with the mouth of the box. You fill it 
with tobacco when about to perform this feat; you borrow a dollar piece, and 
cause it to be marked; to avert suspicion, you empty the snuff out on a sheet of 
paper; then you cause the piece of coin to be put into the snuffbox; on raising it 
up the coin will sound a little; on pressing it, after a hearty shake, it will sound 
no more. After repeating this by-play, cause the piece to come out, and none 
will believe the box to have been pierced if you proceed to fill it up again with 
snuff. 

TO COOK AN OMELETTE IN A HAT. 

The custom, when in company, is to go bareheaded; but when you play at 
magician you need not stand upon ceremony. Up m rising from the table upon 
some pretext, you place in a hat an omelette of two eggs made with a little 
flour. You have brought to you a plate with three eggs, two of which are 
empty and stopped up with wax; the third you let fall as if by accident, and 
showing its contents make the audience believe the others are like it. You break 
the shells of the others, concealing your hands in the hat, and throw the shells 
away; you blow in the hat, and behold your omelette is made. 

AN EXPLOSIVE BOTTLE. 

Take a bottle of black glass, very thick and without flaws; put in it a pint of 
water, 95 grammes of iron filings and 60 grammes of oil of vitriol. Cork the 
bottle, and when you feel it cold uncork it and a detonation will follow; recork 
the bottle and you can repeat the detonation at least twenty times. 

AN AFTER-DINNER FEAT. 

Fold your napkin into the form of a cravat, and request some one of the com- 
pany to fill up your glass with wine or water, and place it on your napkin; cover 
your glass with a hollow plate; cover again the plate with the two ends of the 
napkin in such a fashion as the glass will be tightly pressed against the plate, 
and turn the whole upside down. It is now easy to drink the liquid, which comes 
down gently into the plate— and hence you can readily wager to drink a glass of 
water or wine without touching your glass with your hands or mouth. 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


m 

JO TAKE A DOLLAR PIECE OUT OF A VASE OF WATER WITHOUT WETTING YOtfll 

HANDS. 

Take a not very large porcelain bowl, fill it with water almost tc the brim, say 
about three centimetres, then place in it a dollar coin. You propose to the com- 
pany that some one take this piece out with his hands without wetting them; all 
will refuse as an impossibility. You hold in your hand a little licopodium , 
which can be had at the larger apothecaries; throw it upon the water, and you 
can draw the piece out without moistening your hands. 

THE WONDERFUL SWAN. 

I The figure of a swan must be cut out in cork, and covered with a coat of white 
wax, and the eyes made of glass beads; conceal within its body a well impreg- 
nated magnetic bar, and set it afloat upon a basin of water. Around the edge of 
the basin may be placed various devices; among others a swan-house, such as is 
seen upon the river, may hang over and touch the water; here the swan may 
take shelter occasionally, and in it he may be made to turn around, in order to 
increase the astonishment of the spectators. In the management of the magnetic 
bar placed within the swan, and of a magnetic wand, consists the whole of the 
experiments to be elicited from the approaching or receding of the figure, by 
presenting to the edge of the basin the north and south poles alternately. 

The wand is thus made : Bore a hole, three-tenths of an inch in diameter, 
through a round piece of wood, or get a hollow cane, about eight inches long 
and a half an inch thick. Provide a small steel bar, and let it be impregnated 
with a good magnet; this rod is to be put into the hole you have bored through 
the wand, and closed at both ends by two small pieces of ivory which screw on, 
different in their shapes, that you may easily distinguish the poles of the mag- 
netic bar. This contrivance is applicable to several other kinds of floating fig- 
ures, as ships, &c. 

A CARD NAILED TO THE WALL BY A PISTOL SHOT. 

A card is requested to be drawn, and the person who chooses it is desired to 
tear off a comer and keep it, that he may know the card; the card so tom is 
burnt to cinders, and a pistol is charged with gunpowder, with which the ashes 
of the card are mixed. Instead of a ball a nail is put into the barrel, which is 
marked by some of the company. The pack of cards is then thrown up in the 
air, the pistol fired, and the burnt card appears nailed against the wall; the bit 
of the comer which was tom off is then compared with it and is found exactly 
to fit, and the nail which fastens it to the wall is recognized by the persons who 
marked it. 

The operation is as follows : When the performer sees that a comer has been 
tom from the chosen card, he retires under some pretence and makes a similar 
tear in a like card. Returning on the stage, he asks for the chosen card, and 
passes it to the bottom of the pack, and substitutes expertly in its place the card 
he has prepared, which he bums instead of the first. When the pistol is loaded 
he takes it in his hand, under the pretext of showing how to direct it, &c. He 
avails himself of this opportunity to open a hole in the barrel near the touch- 
hole, through which the nail falls by its own weight into the hand. Having shut 
this carefully, he requests one of the company to put more powder and wadding 
into the pistol. While that is being done, he passes the nail and card to his con- 
federate, who nails the card to a piece of square wood, which stops hermetically 
a space left open in the partition and the tapestry, and by which means, when 
the nailed card is put in, it is not perceived. The piece of tapestry which covers 
it is nicely fastened on the one end with two pins, and to the other a thread k 
fastened, one end of which the confederate holds in his hand. As soon as the 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


88 


report of the pistol is heard, the confederate draws his thread, by which means 
the piece of tapestry falls behind a glass, the same card that was marked ap- 
pears, and with it the nail that was put into the pistol. 

THE MAGNETIZED CANE. 

This is a very surprising little fancy, and is calculated to create much astonish* 
ment in the drawing-room. Take a piece of black silk thread, or horsehair, 
about two feet long, and fasten to each end of it bent hooks of a similar color, 
jwhen unobserved, fasten the hooks in the back part of your pantaloon legs, 

I about two inches below the bend of the knees. Then place the cane (it should 
i*e a dark one, and not too heavy) within the inner part of the thread, and, by a 
> simple movement of the legs, you can make it dance about and perform a great 
^variety of fantastic movements. At night your audience cannot perceive the 
thread, and apparently the cane will have no support whatever. The performer 
should inform the company, before commencing this trick, that he intends to 
magnetize the cane, and, by moving his hands as professors of magnetism do, 
the motion of the legs will not be noticed. 

THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE. 

To make an object which is too near to be distinctly perceived, so as to be seen 
in a distant manner, without the interposition of any glass; make a hole in a 
card with a needle, and, without changing the place of the eye or the object, 
look through the hole at the object, and it will be seen distinctly and consider- 
ably magnified. 

THE INVISIBLE COIN. 

“Is silver a visible or an invisible thing?” What a singular question J You 
will reply, “Certainly, silver is a visible thing. A good many poor creatures, 
however, are of a different opinion ; and possibly they are not altogether wrong, 
as we are about to show.” 

“Will you kindly lend me a quarter— having first marked it, that you may 
know it again? Very well ! There is a little handkerchief which will serve me 
to make the experiment I have promised you. In the middle of this handker- 
chief, as you will perceive, I will put the quarter, which you have marked with 
a small cross. I am only folding the handkerchief that the quarter may be 
well wrapped up m it; you can have no difficulty in recognizing its shape. 
However, you are suspicious ! I will make an improvement. There, sir; hold 
the handkerchief yourself, just above the little parcel formed by the coin. You 
may touch it, and convince yourself that it is still in its place. Now I take the 
handkerchief by the opposite corner and draw it toward me, unfolding it entire- 
ly; I then turn it over, shake it and wave it in the air, to convince you that the 
coin has disappeared. The fact is evident. But did you see it go? No! Cer- 
tainly, then, silver is an invisible body.” 

Which fact you may, dear reader, prove by the foregoing process, if you have 
a handkerchief in one corner of which a quarter dollar has been sewed. You 
appear to put the borrowed quarter in the middle of this handkerchief; then, in- 
stead of this coin, which you retain in your hand concealed between the fore 
and middle fingers, you fold the handkerchief, making the little parcel in the 
centre with the quarter sewed in the corner, in a sort of hem, so that the coin is 
not seen and cannot drop out. When you quickly pull the handkerchief out of 
the hand which held it, the illusion is complete. 

As to the marked coin, which it is easy for you to have put on the table or in 
your pocket, you may make it reappear in a cup, a box, or anything else, which 
adds to the egact of the trick vou have performed. 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 

PRINCE RUPERT’S DROPS. 


ft 


To prepare these curious drops, the following directions will suffice t 

Drop, while red hot, into cold water, small pieces of common green glass; 
they will thus take a tear-like form. The sphere-like portion will bear very 
rough treatment, but if the smallest particle of the tail be broken off, that in- 
stant the whole flies into countless fragments. If one of these drops be im- 
mersed in a vessel of glass filled with water, and its small end be broken off with 
a pair of pincers, it will rend so suddenly as infallibly to break the stoutest wine 
or beer bottle. 

THE OBEDIENT DIME. 

Lay a dime between two half-dollars, and place upon the larger coins a glassy 
Remove the dime without displacing either of the half-dollars or the glass. 
After having placed the glass and coins as indicated, simply scratch the table- 
cloth with the nail of the forefinger, in the direction you would have the dime to 
move, and it will answer immediately. The tablecloth is necessary; for this rea- 
son the trick is best suited to the breakfast or dinner table. 

KNOCKING THE HEAD AGAINST THE DOOR. 

“Do you desire me, ladies, to teach you my secret for making impromptu 
verses? It is to rub your forehead well, not with the hand, as Horace did of old, 
but by giving your head some good sound blows against the wall.” Then pro- 
ceed to knock your head three or four times against a door, and put your hand 
to your forehead, as if to deaden the pain produced by the violence of the blows. 
But you must do something more than merely touch the door with your head. 
At the same moment that you make the movements as if knocking yourself, 
you ward off the blow, by the aid of the left hand held to the door, about the 
spot which you appear to strike, while the closed right hand, concealed from the 
audience, strikes on the other side of the door. 

The correspondence of the movements of tHe head with the noise of the blows 
given by the clenched fist, produces a perfect illusion on the minds of the 
spectators. 

HOW TO LIFT A FLINT GLASS WITH A STRAW. 

Take a straw which is not broken or bruised, and, having bent one end of it 
into a sharp angle, put this curved end into the bottle, so that the bent part may 
rest against its side; you may then take the other end, and lift up the bottle by 
it, without breaking the straw, and this will be more easily accomplished, as the 
angular part of the straw approaches nearer to that which comes out of tht 
bottle. 

TO PUT A RING THROUGH YOUR CHEEK, AND THEN TO BRING IT ON A STICK. 

You must have two rings, exactly alike, one of which has a notch, which ad- 
mits y»u cheek. When you have exhibited the perfect ring, you change it for 
the other, and privately slip the notch over one side of your mouth ; in the mean- 
time you slip the whole ring upon your stick, hiding it with your hand; then de* 
qire some one to hold the stick, whip the ring out of your cheek, and smite witli 

. istantly upon the stick, concealing it, and whirling the other ring which you 
hold your hand over, round about the stick. 

THE MYSTERIOUS COIN; OR, HOW TO MAKE CENTS PASS THROUGH A WINE GLASS, A 
CHINA PLATE, A TABLE, AND FALL INTO THE HAND. 

After performing the last trick, you may address the company again, and say: 
“I will show you the nature of this trick, if you will only look sharp enough to 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


SB 


see how it is done. Therefore watch closely, and, if you have very penetrating 
eyes, you may see the money go through this glass and fall upon the plate, and 
from that through the table into my hand. I will do it deliberately, so that you 
may have every opportunity of detecting the deception, which will make you as 
wise as myself.” 

Now you take a plate and place it on the table; place upon that a wine glass 
upside down, and take the empty leathern case and hold it before the audience, 
to convince them that nothing is inside. Place it, in a careless manner, over the 
riveted money, which you had before put a little aside from the view of the spec- 
tators. Place a small ball on the bottom of the glass, then take the case with 
the concealed coins therein, and place them over the ball, which will be secreted 
therein. Now tell the company to keep a sharp lookout, and they may discover 
the whole process. Take the loose coins and throw them on the table; bring 
them again under the table, and exchange them for a ball previously deposited 
on the shelf, and lay the same upon the table. Remove the case alone, which, 
of course, will leave the money exposed on the top of the glass. 

“Now,” says the performer, as he brings his hand from under the table, “I 
have made the ball go through the wine glass, plate, and table, into my hand, 
and I presume that you have discovered the whole mystery; but, if not, I will 
give you another opportunity, and will return the money whence it came.” 
Cover the money with the case, and bring the ball which you previously exposed 
to the spectators under the table, and exchange it for the money on the shelf, 
which you again toss upon the table Remove the case with the coins concealed 
therein, and the ball will appear on the top of the glass, as at first; then bring 
your hand from under the table, and throw the real coins upon the table. 

Our performer makes the following concluding speech: “Now, as you have, I 
suppose, discovered the whole mystery, I hope, ladies, that you will not set up 
an opposition line against me; since, if you do, you will very seriously injure my 
pockets, and, of course, attract all the company, and leave me in an empty 
house with empty pockets.” 

TO MAKE WATEE REMAIN IN A VESSEL WITH HOLES IN THE BOTTOM OP IT. 

This miraculous wonder may be performed by providing a small tin vessel, 
five or six inches in height, and two or three in diameter, with a number of very 
small holes in the bottom of it, of a size sufficient to admit of a common sewing 
needle, and observe the following directions: Plunge the vessel in water, with 
its mouth open, and, when full, cork it while in the water and take it out again, 
and no water will escepe by the holes so long as it remains corked; but, as soon 
as it is uncorked, the water will immediately issue from its bottom. The operator 
must take care neither to make the holes too large or too numerous. A recrea- 
tion similar to this is made with a wide-mouthed glass, filled with water, over 
which a piece of paper is placed; for if the glass be then inverted, and the paper 
drawn dexterously away, the water will remain in the glass. 

THE CONJUROR’S JOKE. 

This is a complete trick, but may afford some amusement. You offer to bet 
any person that you will so fill a glass of water that he shall not move it off the 
table without spilling the whole contents. You then fill the glass, and, laying a 
piece of thin card over the top of it, you dexterously turn the glass upside down 
on the table, and then draw away the card and leave the water in the glass with 
its foot upwards. It will therefore be impossible to remove the glass from the 
table without spilling every drop. 

HOW TO MELT METAL IN A WALNUT SHELL. 

Bend any thin coin, andjput it into half h* walnut shell; place the shell on a 


M 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


little sand to keep it steady. Then fill the shell with a mixture made of three 
parts of very dry pounded nitre, one part of flour of sulphur, and a little sawdust 
well sifted. If you then set a light to the mixture you will find, when it is melted, 
that the metal will also be melted in the bottom of the shell, In form of a button, 
which will become hard when the burning matter around it is consumed. The 
shell will have sustained very little injury. 

THE MAGIC CHIPS. 

Procure two tin cups without handles, quite plain, straight sides, with the bot- 
toms sunk a quarter of an inch. On the bottoms spread some glue, and com- 
pletely cover the glue with some kind of birdseed, only so as not to be seen when 
standing in an ordinary position. Have ready a bag filled with the same kind of 
seed as you used in covering the bottoms. Put the cups on the table; also two 
hats. Put one cup then into the bag, appear to fill it, and take it out turned 
bottom upwards, when it will look as if it had been filled. Put it in that position 
under one hat; in doing so turn it over. Then take the other empty cup, put that 
under the other hat; and, in doing so, turn that over, which, of course, must be 
invisible to the audience. Then remove the hats and the cups will appear to 
have changed places. 

TO PASS A QUARTER INTO A BALL OF WORSTED. 

Like all the best magical tricks, this is one of the most simple. A marked 
quarter is borrowed, a large ball of worsted is brought. Presto 1 the worsted 
is unwound, and out falls the money that a minute before was in its owner’s 
pocket. Here is the solution: First, procure a few skeins of thick worsted; 
next a piece of tin in the shape of a flat tube, large enough for the quarter to 
pass through, and about four inches long. 

Now wind the worsted on one end of the tube, to a good-sized ball, having a 
quarter of your own in your right hand. You may now show the trick. Place 
the worsted anywhere out of sight, borrow a marked quarter; then, taking it in 
your left hand, looking at it and saying, “It is good,” place the one in your right 
hand on the end of the table furthest from the company ; then fetch the worsted; 
while doing so drop the marked quarter through the tube, pull it out, and wind 
the worked a little to conceal the hole; then put the ball into a tumbler, and, 
taking the quarter you left on the table, show it to the company (who will 
imagine it to be the borrowed quarter), say, “Presto ! fly ! pass 1” Give the end 
of the ball to one of the audience, request them to unwind it, which, being done, 
the money will fall out, to the astonishment of all who see this trick of leger- 
demain. 

TO CHANGE THE COLOR OF A LIQUID IN A GLASS SEVERAL DIFFERENT TIMES. 

Pour extract of logwood into a glass of water, which will give it the color of 
wine; pour this red water into another glass, previously rinsed with vinegar, and 
it will become yellow; empty the water from the glass, all except three fingers, 
and upon this pour fresh water until it becomes the color of gray wine, which 
you can change into the color of vinegar or muscat wine, which, by pouring on 
more water, changes to the color of fine white wine, and, by adding a couple of 
drops of ink, it becomes a beautiful bluish gray. 

THE MAGICAL MIRROR. 

Take a square box, about six inches long and twelve high, or of any propor- 
tionate dimensions. Cover the inside with four flat pieces of looking glass, 
placed perpendicularly to the bottom of the box. Place at the bottom any object 
you please, as a piece of fortification, a castle, tents, soldiers, &c. On the top 
place a frame of glass shaped like the bottom o£a pyramid, and so formed as to 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS 


m 

Ox on the box like a cover; the four sides of this are to be composed of ground 
glass, or covered inside with gauze, so that the light may enter, and yet be in- 
visible except at the top, which must be covered with transparent glass; when 
you look through this glass the inside will present a pleasing prospect of bound- 
less extent, and, if managed with care, will afford a good deal of amusement. 

THE AWL WHICH DOES NO HARM. 

This awl is furnished with a hollow handle, and a spring which forces the atvl 
jut, but allows it to recede into the handle when touching any surface. 

When the point is pressed against the forehead it retires within the handle, 
led the spectator, unaware of its construction, thinks it has entered the head. 
Knives and swords can be made upon the same principle, and used to accom- 
plish many delusions. 

THE RESTORED RIBBON. 

Have two pieces of colored ribbon of exactly the same size and appearance; 
one of which, being damped, may be secured in the palm of the hand previous 
to exhibiting. The other may be cut in pieces and burned in a plate by the au- 
dience. Taking now the ashes, you call for a basin of water, with which you 
moisten them— stating that, by the magical influence of the “cold water cure,” 
the color and form of the burned ribbon will be restored. Rubbing the damp 
ashes in the hand, you draw forth, at the same time, the concealed ribbon, 
which will appear to be the same that had been consumed. 

A SELF-TURNING CROSS. 

Take a piece of straw, cut about the length of your finger; and, before an- 
nouncing the trick, twist the end a couple of turns. With another piece of 
straw, make the arms of a cross and plant it in a crack in the table. Drop upon 
the head of the straw a couple of drops of water, and command it to turn. As 
the water descends through the straw into the twist you have made, it will 
cause it to unwind and revolye, although fastened. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 

TO CUT AN A»PLE INTO QUARTERS WITHOUT DAMAGING THE PEEL. 

Pass a string by means of a needle across the apple, which is divided by pull- 
ing the two ends of the string, crossing under the peel. Operate in the same 
manner on the opposite side of the apple, so as to divide it into a second half, 
'and it will be perfectly divided into quarters, although enveloped by the peel. 

THE IMPOSSIBLE OMELET. 

You produce some butter, eggs, and other ingredients for making an omelet, 
together with a frying-pan, in a room where there is a fire, and offer to bet a 
wager that the cleverest cook will not be able to make an omelet with them. 
The wager is won by having previously caused the eggs to be boiled very hard, 

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. 

With a pen and ink make a streak on your hand along the line from the index 
to the little finger. You ask some one in the company to cover your hand with 
a hat, which you make him hold ; and, while he holds it, you bend your hand as 
if to close it. You open it immediately, and invite him to take the hat away, 
and the cross is made. 


MISCELL A WEOTTS TRICKS; 


THE VISIBLE INVISIBLE. 

You tell one of the company that you will place a candle in such a manner 
that every person in the room, except himself, shall see it; yet you will not 
blindfold him, nor in any way restrain his person, or offer the least impediment 
to his examining or going to any part of the room he pleases. This trick is ac- 
complished by placing the candle upon the party’s head; but it cannot be per- 
formed if a looking-glass is in the room, as that will enable him to turn the 
laugh against you. 

THE SECOND SIGHT TRICK. 

I remember once seeing an ingenious little contrivance, through which, by the 
aid of mirrors, fixed opposite each other at certain angles, the apparent impossi. 
bility of “reading through a brick” was successfully accomplished. 

In the little trick I am about to describe, a similar but more wonderful effect is 
produced, without aid from apparatus of any kind, and so mysterious does it ap- 
pear that I have often heard it attributed to mesmerism or clairvoyance. It is, 
however, simply a trick, with considerable humbug about it, but no isms, and far 
surpasses, in my estimation, the celebrated “ballot test” of the Spiritualists. 

A small round box, about one and a half inches in diameter and half an inch 
deep, is handed to the audience, with the request that, when they have satisfied 
themselves that it is without preparation, they will place some article or articles 
in it— such as coins, peculiar rings, &c. This being done, the box is covered with 
a handkerchief, and given to one of the audience to hold. The performer then 
stands at a distance, and proceeds to describe minutely the contents, although 
hidden from his view. 

To perform this trick, it is necessary to have a second box , as near the size and 
shape of the first as possible. This is sewed in the corner of a handkerchief in 
the same manner as the ring in the “Russian Ring Trick.” When the first box 
has been filled, the performer takes it, meantime pretending to place it in the 
handkerchief palms it, and gives the second one to be held. He now walks away 
to take his position at a distance, and while his back is turned to the audience he 
takes the opportuniry of opening the box and examining the contents. Having 
fully inspected and replaced the articles, he proceeds with his description, which, 
being finished, he approaches the person who has the handkerchief, and, taking 
hold of it, requests that he will let go of the box, at the same time shaking the 
handkerchief, and letting the first box, which is still concealed in the palm of the 
hand, fall to the floor. The audience will naturally suppose that the box never 
left the handkerchief, and when they see the borrowed articles taken from it 
and returned to the owners, they will be still further mystified. 


GO, IP YOU CAN. 

You tell a person that you will clasp hif hands together in such a manner that 
he shall not be able to leave the room without unclasping them, although you' 
will not confine his teet, or bind his body, or in any way oppose his exit. 

This trick is performed by clasping the party’s hands around the pillar of a 
large circular table, or other bulky article of furniture, too large for him to drag 
through the doorway. 


THE CARD CHANGED BY WORD OP COMMAND. 

You must have two cards of the same kind in one pack, say the king of spades. 
Place one of them next to the bottom card, say the seven of hearts, and the 
other at the top. Shuffle the cards without displacing those three, and show a 
person that the bottom card is the seven of hearts. This card you dexterously 
slip aside with your finger, which vou have previously wetted, and, taking the 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 




ting of spades from the bottom, which the person supposes to be the seven of 
hearts, lay it on the table, telling him to cover it over with his hand. Shuffle the 
cards again without displacing the first and last cards, and, shifting the other 
king of spades from the top to the bottom, show it to another person. You then 
draw that privately away, and, taking the bottom card, which will then be the 
seven of hearts, you lay that on the table, and tell the second person (who be- 
lieves it to be the king of spades) to cover it with his hand. You then command 
the cards to change places, and when the two parties take off their hands, and 
turn up the cards, they will see, to their great astonishment, that your commands 
have been obeyed. 

TO TAKE AWAY ANY MIDDLE OBJECT WITHOUT TOUCHING IT. 

Place, for example, on a table three pieces of money, in this manner: 

O O O 

and propose to any one to take away the middle one without touching it. 

How to do it: Take the right hand piece and place it upon the left; conse- 
quently the middle one has become the right hand one, and is no longer in the 
middle. 

TO FURNISH LADIES WITH A MAGIC SUPPLY OF TEA OR COFFEE, AT THEIR 
SELECTION, FROM ONE AND THE SAME JUG. 

Have a metal jug to held not less than three pints. It must be constructed 
with two compartments in the lower part of it, holding about a pint and a quar- 
ter each, and these must each have a pipe connected with the spout of the jug, 
and another pipe connecting with its handle; and in the handle a small hole, 
about the size of a letter— o— in this print. These lower compartments must be 
filled with good tea and coffee before the jug is produced. 

The upper chamber or compartment, like the upper portion of a patent coffee- 
pot, must have no communication with the lower divisions, and must be well 
closed also at the top with a snugly fitting tin cover. Have half a dozen sma'l 
tea cups and half a dozen small coffee cups ready on a tray. 

Begin the trick by placing openly in the upper compartment coffee berries and 
tea mixing them together. Take up, as a sudden thought, an old blacking bot- 
tle and pretend to pour from it into the jug, to furnish highly-colored liquid to 
improve the coffee; and a little gunpowder, about a teaspoonful, may be fired off 
over the mixture to make the tea strong. Wave your wand over the jug. 

Then you may address the ladies, informing them that the ingredients are well 
mixed, and invite them to name which they prefer, “tea or coffee,” as you cai^ 
produce either at their command from the same jug. 

Get some friend to hand the cups, while you follow him; and, by unstopping 
the proper hole in the handle for the admission of air upon the coffee or tea, th< 
one selected by each lady will flow from the spout of this magic jug. 

TO CHANGE WATER INTO WINE. 

By having two bottles of the same size, one filled with wine and the other wit* 
water, you may to all appearances accomplish this impossibility, by laying the 
wine bottle down on a table, and resting the bottle with the water upon the top 
of it so that the two necks may meet together, and the water will then take the 
place of the wine, and the wane the place of the water. By covering the two 
bottles in a dexterous manner with a napkin, to prevent those around from ob- 
serving the change; it will excite considerable surprise, you having previously 
called their attention to the position of the bottles. 

Many other tricks may be performed in the same manner, of which the follow- 
ing is a specimen: If a smalj bottle of wine, well corked, is placed in a globe of 


60 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


water, so that the water will rise about two inches above the neck of the wine 
bottle, and the cork of the latter withdrawn, it will immediately change into the 
globe and the bottle will fill with water. 

TO FURNISH A TREAT TO THE GENTLEMEN. 

For this trick the magic bottle must be procured. One with three or four 
compartments is amply sufficient. In these place gin, sherry and port wine, 
respectively. The bottle will have three or four holes, on which you place your 
fingers as if stopping the holes of a flute. You may have a bucket of water and 
a common bottle, resembling the magic one in size and appearance, near your 
table. Have ready also a tray of wine glasses of thick glass, and holding 
only a very small quantity. 

Exhibit the common bottle to the audience, and then place it on your table, 
and direct attention to some of the other articles on your table, saying, “Now I 
must begin my experiment. I will wash and drain the bottle that you may wit- 
ness the experiment from beginning to the end.” Place it in the bucket, and, while 
shaking it about and letting the water run out, exchange It for the magic bottle 
lying by the bucket. Wipe that carefully with a napkin, as if drying it, and, 
calling two or three of the audience forward at a time, inquire which they prefer. 
Have the stops according to alphabetical order, to prevent your mistaking— gin, 
port, sherry. Continue supplying the small glasses as called for, till your bottle 
gets nearly empty, and then pour them out indiscriminately. There will have 
been sufficient to satisfy the most eager. 

But if you wish to continue the trick, you may have a second magic bottle 
prepared in the same way, and yoir will easily, while propounding some magic 
charm and gesticulation, make some pretence that will enable you to exchange 
the empty for the second bottle, and so proceed. 

THE DOUBLE MEANING. 

Place a glass of any liquor upon the table; put a hat over it, and say, “I will 
engage to drink the liquor under that hat, and yet I’ll not touch the hat.” You 
then get under the table, and, after giving three knocks you make a noise with 
your mouth as if you were swallowing the liquor. Then, getting from under the 
table, you say, “Now, gentlemen, be pleased to look.” Some one, eager to see if 
you drank the liquor, will raise up the hat, when you instantly take the glass and 
drink the contents, saying, “Gentlemen, I have fulfilled my promise. You are 
all witnesses that I did not touch the hat.” 

TO GIVE A PARTY A GHOSTLY APPEARANCE. 

Take a half pint of spirits, and, having warmed it, put a handful of salt with 
it into a basin; then set it on fire, and it wiH have the effect of making every per. 
son within its influence look hideous. This feat must be performed in a room. 

CANDLES EXTINGUISHED AND LIGHTED BY PISTOL SHOTS. 

It is necessary that the candles be entire, and with recent wicks. Two lighted 
and two to be lighted. 

You must put in the middle of thi Wicks of those to be lighted (each wick to 
be separated by a pin or toothpu k) a piece of phosphorus about the size of a 
grain of wheat, which can be introduced upon the point of a knife. You place 
ycurself then at the distance of five or six feet from the candles, and fire the 
pistol, which will extinguish those lighted and set fire to those having the phos- 
phorous in them. 

THE G*H TRICK. 

Having provided yourself with a fowling-piece, permit any person to load 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


fll 


retaining for yourself the privilege of putting in the ball, to the evident satisfao* 
tion of the company, but, instead of which, you must provide yourself with an 
artificial one made of black lead, which may be easily concealed between your 
fingers, and retain the real ball in your possession, producing it after the gun 
has been discharged; and a mark having been previously put upon it, it will in- 
stantly be acknowledged. This trick is quite simple, as the artificial ball is easily 
reduced to a powder on the application of the ramrod; besides, the smallness of 
the balls preclude all discovery of the deception. , 

These are the means resorted to by most of the “profession” who perform I 
this trick. Indeed, for a long time, it was the only method in use. The mechani-j 
cal and chemical sciences have, however, been pressed into service of the de-J 
luder; and the manner in which our prestidigitateur accomplishes his delusion is a ’ 
happy specimen of what can be accomplished by their means. He uses a real | 
leaden ball. 

HOW TO CUT OFF TOUR NOSE, 

This feat, though it has a very horrifying appearance, need cause no alarm, as 
it is one of the simplest tricks which can be attempted. The performer ought to 
be a short distance from the company when it is to be performed, and must be 
provided with two clasp-knives, one of which must have a small semi-circle cut 
out of it, the other being a common knife. Of course you show the latter to the 
company as the only instrument in your possession. You must also provide 
yourself with a small piece of sponge soaked in wine, and, having caused an in- 
dividual to sit down, you immediately proceed to work, by slipping the true 
knife into your pocket and producing the other in its place. Then put your left 
hand, w r ith the sponge in it, upon the person’s brow, and pass the knife gently 
over his nose, so that the semi-circle which is in the knife will cause it to descend 
and to all appearance cut into his nose, while you squeeze the sponge gently, so 
that it may appear to bleed. 

THE DANCING EGG. 

Three eggs are brought out; two of them are put on a table, and the third in a 
hat; a little cane is borrowed from one of the company, and it is shown about to 
convince the spectators that there is no preparation. It is then placed across 
the hat, the hat falls to the ground, and the egg sticks to it as if glued; the or- 
chestra plays a piece of music, and the egg, as if it was sensible of the harmony, 
twists about the cane from one end to the other, and continues its motion till 
the music stops. The egg is fastened to a thread by a pin, which is put in 
lengthways, and the hole which has been made to introduce the pin is stopped 
with white wax. The other end of the thread is fastened to the breast of the' 
person who performs the trick, with a pin bent like a hook— the cane passing 
under the thread near to the egg serves for it to rest on. When the music begins, 
the performer pushes the cane from left to right, or from right to left; it then 
appears as if the egg ran along the cane, which it does not; being fastened to 
its thread, its centre of gravity remains always at the same distance from the 
hook that holds it; it is the cane which, sliding along, presents its different 
points to the surface of the egg, To produce the illusion, and persuade the com- 
pany that it is the egg which carries itself toward the different points of the 
cane, the performer turns a little on his heel; by this means the egg receives a 
motion which deceives the spectators; it remains always at the same distance 
from the point to which it is fastened. 

THE MAGIC BOUQUETS, 

Cause a number of flowers and leaves to be made, by an artificial flower maker, 
of white canvas or cotton cloth, such W violets, &c., as you may think 


69 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


best. When you have the different flowers and leaves, steep them in the appro 
priate sympathetic inks to bring out the correct colors when wanted. Let them 
all dry, and arrange them into bouquets, as they will all appear colorless and 
will be ready for use at any time, even days after they have been prepared. 
When dipped in a vase of water impregnated with the juice expressed from vio- 
lets, all these different flowers and leaves of the different bouquets will assume 
their proper colors, in respect to the sympathetic inks in which they have been 
steeped. Take one of these bouquets and cause it to be remarked that they are 
all perfectly white. Dip them in the vase of vivifying liquid and draw them out, 
calling attention to the fact that both flowers and leaves have assumed the 
shade and color designed by nature for them. 

THE MAGIC SHRUB. 

Place a sprig of rosemary, or any other garden herb, in a glass jar, so that 
when it is inverted the stem may be downward and the sprig supported by the 
sides of the jar; then put some benzoic acid upon a piece of hot iron, so that the 
acid may be sublimed in the form of a thick white vapor. Invert the jar over 
the iron, and leave the whole untouched until the sprig be covered by the sub- 
limed acid in the form of beautiful hoar frost. 

TO MAKE WATER RISE FROM A SAUCER INTO A GLASS. 

Pour water into a saucer, then light a piece of paper, which you put in a wine- 
glass, and, on clapping the glass down into the saucer, the water will be seen to 
rise into it. 

FIRESIDE MESMERISM. 

Take a gold ring— the more massive the better, but your wife’s wedding ring 
will do, if you are so lucky as to have one. Attach the ring to a silk thread 
about twelve inches long; fasten the other end of the thread around the nail- 
joint of your right forefinger, and let the ring hang about half an |nch above the 
surface of the table, on which you rest your elbow to steady your hand. Hold 
your finger horizontally, with the thumb thrown back as far as possible from 
the rest of the hand. 

If there be nothing on the table, the ring will soon become stationary. Then 
place some silver (say three half-dollars) immediately below it, when the ring 
will begin to oscillate backwards and forwards, to you and from you. Now bring 
your thumb in contact with your forefinger Cor else suspend the ring from your 
thumb), and the oscillations will become transverse to their former swing. Or 
this may be effected by making a lady take hold of your disengaged hand. 
When the transverse motion is fairly established, let a gentleman take hold of 
the lady’s disengaged hand, and the ring will change back to its former course. 
These effects are produced by the aid of animal magnetic currents given forth 
by the hands of the experimenters. Instead of silver, you can suspend the ring 
over your left forefinger, with similar results. 

THE MAGIC KNIFK. 

This trick, which is at once simple an d'clever, has not before been published. 
Ask one of your audience for a pocket-knife, and stick two small square pieces 
of white paper on each side. Give the knife to your audience to be examined, 
and then take it in your left hand, palm upwards. Let the handle of the knife 
be clasped between the thumb and forefinger, and the blade extended outwards 
from you; the handle will then lie on the palm of the hand towards you. With 
practice you will be able, by a rapid turn of the wrist, to pass the knife from 
one side of the hand to the other, always keeping the same side of the blade up 
wards, while to your audience it will appear that you reverse it at every turn. 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICES. 


6a 


Wipe the bits of paper off of one side, turn the knife as directed, pass your 
fingers again across the blade, leading your audience to believe that you have 
wiped them off of the second side also. Both sides of the blade will now appear 
*o be perfectly clean, but, in fact, you have only removed the two pieces off of 
©ne side. By rapidly turning the knife, you may cause the bits of paper to ap- 
pear and disappear at command. All that is required is a little dexterity in the 
turn of the wrist, which may be acquired by practice. 

TRICKS WITH THE MAGIC LANTERN. 

The magic lantern is a dioptrical instrument, invented by Father Kircher, 
with the property of making figures painted on pieces of thin glass, with trans- 
parent colors, appear of large size on a white surface, as a wall or sheet. Be- 
hind the glass picture is a strong light, and before it two magnifying glasses or 
lenses in a telescopic slide, so that they can be adjusted in focus, and so send 
the rays of light from behind the glass diverging to the wall, where they will 
form a larger image. If the light is from the sun, the effects are akin to those 
©f the solar microscope ; if by a candle or lamp of any sort, a reflector is set so 
as to save all the rays that would not otherwise have illuminated the picture- 
glass. 

To give movements to the figures in the picture, two pieces of glass are used, 
one set in a frame and painted with part of the figure, while the other, bearing 
the moving portion (as a leg, an arm, or machinery), is worked by a string or 
rod, sliding in through a slit in the frame; thus can a wind or water-mill be seen 
in action; a cobbler sew at a boot; a comic man drink; a Chesterfield take off 
and put on his hat; Mr, Punch flourish his staff of office, &c. 

To make this optical apparatus more amusing and wondrous, prepare the fig- 
ures so as to be able to give them natural movements, done by using two glass 
slides, on which different parts of the same object are painted, and moving one 
to and fro behind the other. Thus, Jack can be made to thrust his sword at a 
giant; Jack, Jill and the pail fall down hill; a grotesque head put out its tongue; 
a smith hammer on an anvil; a rope-dancer waltz from one end of a cord to the 
other; a trapezist perform, &c. 

A dissolving view is managed by two lanterns of the same powers, lighted 
equally. The light from one must fall on the same point of the screen where 
the other casts its picture, so that when one slide is gradually shut off and the 
other proportionately discovered, one scene seems to fade into another. The 
best effects are a landscape in winter becoming a view in summer; a desert 
changing into a populous market-place; a ghost into a jolly laughing man, 

For -phantasmagoria, the figures are surrounded by an opaque tint, so that 
the rays of light pass only through the figures themselves, and while the magic 
lantern views are cast upon a wall with a halo or circle of li^ht all around them, 
the phantasmagorial lantern throws them on a transparent screen, such as a 
sheet of wetted or waxed muslin, oiled or tissue paper, strained smoothly on a 
frame. 

To prevent the friction of moving slides injuring the painting, interpose a 
thick band of paper around the edges, to keep the surfaces of the two glasses 
from contact. 

THE TURN WONDER. 

This amusing toy causes an illusion of vision, and is made and exhibited m fol- 
lows' Cut out a small circular piece of card, to which fasten four strings. 
Oraw on one side of it a Bacchus aud on the other a butt. Then take one of the 
•firings between the forefinger and thumb of each hand, close to the card, and 
cwist or twirl it rapidly around, aud, according to which pair of strings you use, 
she figure will be seen in a different position. Various devices may be used— for 


64 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICES. 


instance, a bird on the one side and a cage on the other; a tight-rop® a mS ft 
dancer; a body and a Lead; a candle and a flame; a picture and a frame. 

MAGICAL APPEARANCE OF A GLOBE OF WATER FULL OF FISH. 

Tusang was the first to introduce the globe full of water and gold fishes. Ha 
had a long gown and a large pocket in front, would squat down, not in a very 
elegant position, and produce from nothing, apparently, a globe brimful of 
water and gold-fish swimming about. It would not suit most people to carry 
about a large dressing gown, or glass globe to carry the fish in, but you may 
perform the experiment without either. Purchase a few gaudily -colored fish at 
a toy-shop, such as you place in a glass of water and they follow a magnet 
about. Then, at an india-rubber store procure a large india-rubber jar cover, 
such as they sell to cover pickle jars or other preserves. In any house you may 
procure a basin that will fit your cover, which will tightly stretch over it; and it 
may happen you can obtain a glass bowl. Place your artificial fish in the globe 
or basin, then fill it with water and stretch on your india-rubber cover; this will 
prevent the water from falling out, whatever position you place it in. Leave the 
room, or retire to a chair in the corner, upon which you have little preparations 
and arrangements, hang a cloth over the back of it, and let no person be allowed 
to go near or to examine it. Have your bowl all ready, and place it under your 
arm or inside your coat. Borrow a large handkerchief or lady’s shawl, or pro- 
vide yourself with a square of black cloth; hold it up to the audience in your two 
bands, showing both sides, then place one corner of the cloth in your mouth and 
your right hand underneath, with which you take the bowl from under your 
arm; place it on the palm of your left hand, the handkerchief or cloth over it. 
You must hold the cloth in your hand and in your mouth so as to conceal the 
doings of the hand under the cloth. The bowl being now in the left hand and 
the cloth over it, with the right hand remove the cloth from off the bowl, and in 
doing so also take off the india-rubber cover. This is very easily done, although 
it requires some strength to stretch it on in the first place. Exhibit your bowl 
of fish, make your bow, and proceed to the next experiment. 


TO FIND SIX TIMES THIRTEEN IN TWELVE. 

Place your figures thus: 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 
and. taking always the first and the last figure together, you Mjt 

1 and 12 make 13’ 


11 

10 

9 

8 

7 


-6 times. 


THE LINK BOYS. 


Place two persons on t! eir knees, opposite to each other; each is to kneel bt 
one knee, with the other leg in the air. Give to one of them a lighted eandie. re 
questing him to light that of the other person. Thi 3 is exceedingly difficult to 
do, both being poised in equilibrium on one knee, and liable to tumble at the 
slightest disarrangement of position. 


THE CONJUROR'S STROKE. 

Taka a ball in each hand, and stretch both your hands as far as you cau out 
from the other; then inform the company that you will make both balls come 
into which hand they please to name, if any one doubt your ability to pertorm 
this feat, you must lay one ball on the table, turn yourself around, and met 
take it up with the hand which already contains a ball, Tlfeug both the bal:s will 
be in one of vour hands, without. th« amniAvnaant of both of them. 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICES. 


RINGS AND DOUBLE RIBBONS— A JAPANESE TRICK. 

Take two ribbons of the same size. In the first place, double the first ribbon 
so that the ends meet; do the same with the second. After this, attach the two 
ribbons together in the middle by a thread of the same color. This should be 
prepared in advance. 

When you want to execute the trick, string some rings upon this double ribbon. 
Call upon some person to hold the ends of the ribbon, but give to him the two 
ends of the second ribbon, although he should be made to believe that he holds 
the ends of different ribbons. Call up another, and do the same, taking care 
that they do not pull strong enough to break the string, for in that case the rib* | 
bons would separate and the rings fall to the ground. To guard against this ( 
accident, cause them to approach one another, and request one of the ends held \ 
by each to interlace, as if to make a knot, but return to each the opposite end 
to that which he had before, so both will hold the two ends of two different rib- 
bons, and the fraud will not be detected. The rings, which were never held by 
the double ribbon, are taken off easily upon breaking the thread, to the astonish* 
ment of the spectators, who, supposing them to be strung upon the ribbons 
see them no more. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 

TO SHOOT A SMALL BIRD AND BRING IT TO LIFE AGAIN. 

In this experiment take an ordinary fowling-piece, and put the usual charge 
of powder into it; but, instead of the common charge of shot, introduce a halt 
charge of quicksilver. When a small bird approaches, fire. Although it is not 
necessary to hit the bird, it will be found so stunned and stifled as to fall upon 
the ground in a state of suspended animation. As ks consciousness will return 
at the expiration of a few minutes, avail yourself of the interval in declaring 
your intention of bringing it to life again, and your declaration will come true, 
to the amazement of your brother sportsmen. 

TO DRAW TWO FIGURES WITH CRAYON ON A WALL, ONE OF WHICH WILL LIGHT A 
TAPER, AND THE OTHER EXTINGUISH IT. 

Draw with crayon two figures on the wall; any you please, such as a man’s 
bead and a woman’s. At the mouth of one you put a little gunpowder, which* 
you fasten on with mouth-glue; at the mouth of the other a bit of phosphorus, 
fastened in the same way. When you take a lighted taper near the mouth that 
has the gunpowder, the explosion extinguishes it; then, taking it near the phos- 
phorous while warm, it lights itself again. 

THE TAPE TRICK. 

This trick consists in suffering a person to tie your thumbs together tightly, 
and yet that you shall be able to release them in a moment, and tie them to- 
gether again. The mode of performing this trick is as follows: Lay a piece of 
tape across the palms of your hands, placed side by side, letting the ends hang 
down; then bring your palms quickly together, at the same time privately 
catching hold of the middle of the tape with your fourth and fifth fingers. Then 
direct any person to tie your thumbs together as tight as he pleases, but he will 
pot, of course, in reality be tying them, because you have hold of the tape, yet 
ft will nevertheless appear to him that he is doing so. Request him to place a 
bat over your bands; then blow "non the uatand say. “Be loose.” slipping you* 


m 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


thumbs from under the tape. Direct him to remove the hat, and show your 
thumbs free. You then request the hat may again be placed over your hands, 
and blowing upon it you say, “Be tied,” slipping your thumbs under the tape 
again* and when the hat is removed, your thumbs will appear tied a8 at first 
After performing the trick, convey the tape away, lest it be detected. 

I THE MAGIC ORACLE. 

Write on slips of paper questions in crimson ink, and underneath a fitting 
answer, with ink made as follows: Zaffer digested » i aquaregia, and diluted 
(with water. This ink is invisible, except under the ; ction of heat, when the 
Writing is legible and of a green color. By several of the cards with a certain 
Question having on them different answers, the trick will be less likely to be sus- 
pected. Construct a box. ornamented with shells and rock-work, so as to justify 
its title of the “Sybil’s Cave,” inside of which can be put a hot iron plate, so as 
to warm the interior considerably. Having let the audience select their queries, 
take and put the chosen slips into the cave. Talk about the marvelous abilities 
of the Lady of Fate, whom you playfully supposo to be within as your secretary, 
and presently withdraw the slips and show your written answers. But do dot 
let them be too long out of your hand, for the letters will disappear as the paper 
grows cold. 

THE MAGIC STAR. 


Cut out of stiff white paper thirty-six small squares. Upon these you write 38 
numbers, from one to thirty -six, and place them in six rows upon the table, as 
follows: 


B 


33 


28 


33 


30 


31 


11 


24 


13 


1 14 


A 80 85 34 28 16 15 X 7 5 27 25 28 83 D 


12 


10 


17 


31 


18 


19 


20 


E 


After the six rows, A X, B X, C X, D X, E X and F X, are laid upon the table, 
you choose six persons out of the company, A, B, C, D, E, F, and request the 
first person, A, to choose any number out of the row of numbers marked A X, 
and to keep it in mind. You request the second person, B, to choose a number 
out of the row B X, and the third person out of the row C X, the fourth out of 
the row D X, the fifth out of the row E X, and, finally, the sixth out of the row 
FX. 


This being done, you brush together each row of numbers separately, and 
place the six numbers which form the row A X in such a maimer that they will 
lie in a circle around the central point, X, and so that the number 15 will keep its 
former place; but in place of number 1 of the next row, BX, you put the number 
16; in place of the number 14 of the third row, you put the number 28; in place of 
the number 7 of the fourth row, you put the number 34; in the place of the num- 
ber 12 in the fifth row-, the number 35; and, finally, in the place of the number C 
in the sixth row, you put the number 3 A -so that - . tba six numbers of the first row 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. <' 

AX, will lie one in each of the six rows, and form the number next to X in eacn 
row. 

Proceed in this way with the six numbers, 1. 13. 11, 31, 33, 32, which form the 
row B X, so that these shall be distributed in the six rows in a circle, and thus 
form the second number to X in each row. Proceed in the same manner with 
the third, fourth, fifth and sixth rows, and you have numbers arranged aa fol- 
lows: 

B C 

10 17 

8 SI 

6 27 j 

8 13 

13 11 

16 28 

A, 9 39 7 14 1 15 X 34 31 29 2S 18 4 D 

36 35 

32 33 

26 SO 

23 22 

20 4 

19 - 3 

F E 

When the numbers are arranged in this manner, you ask each of the six per. 
sons in which row the number which he had chosen was now to be found, when 
the number chosen by the person A, in the row A X, will be found to be the first 
number in the row now pointed out by him, and next to the letter X. 

The number chosen by B, from the former row B X, will be the second number 
from X, in the row which the person points out. In this manner you can easily 
discover the numbers chosen by the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth persons. 

When, for example, the person A declares that the number he had chosen from 
the row A X, is now in the row E X, he must have chosen the number 35. This 
mechanical calculation never fails to prove correct, and is, therefore, a very en- 
tertaining amusement. 

THE MAGIC BOOK. 

Provide an octavo book of plain paper, of whatever thickness you please. 
Turn over seven leaves from tho beginning, and paint a group of flowers; then 
turn over seven more leaves, and paint the same again, and so on, until you have 
turned the book through to the end. Then paste a slip of paper or parchment to 
each of the painted leaves. Turn the book over again, and paint upon every 
sixth leaf a parrot, and then paste strips upon them as you did upon the first, 
only a little lower down. Proceed in this manner until you have painted the 
book full of pictures of various sorts, taking care one side of the leaves is left 
white paper. When you use the book, hold it in your left hand, and set the thumb 
of your right hand upon the first of the parchment stays; run the book through, 
and it will appear full of flowers; then stop and, blowing upon the book, run it 
through again, with the thumb upon the second slips of parchment, and it will 
appear full of parrots. Afterwards, reverse the book, and run it through as be- 
fore, and it will appear composed of olank paper. 

A MAN ALWAYS UPRIGHT. 

Qufc a little figure of a man out of the pith of the elderberry tree, or some other 
light material, and attach to its base a hemisphere of some very heavy material, 
Cue half of a musket ball for instance, by some good glue. Whichever way you 
feline the figure, it will directly resume perpendicular. 


M 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


HOW TO TELL ANYBODY’S AGE. 

The trick With numbers, given below, has been exhibited by a well-known ma- 
gician by means of a blackboard on the stage, and has caused many a person, 
with a swatch of the head, to wonder how the wily necromancer could tell the 
amount of money in his pockets, his usual time of rising in the morning, age or 
even the number of potatoes eaten at dinner. This number table is merely a 
clever mathematical arrangement. 

Request a person to find in what columns his age is indicated. You can at 
once then tell him what his age is. You can tell any number under sixty by this 
arrangement of numbers: 


1 

2 

3 

4 

i 

6 

*1 

2 

4 

6 

*16 

82 

8 

8 

5 

9 

17 

38 

6 

6 

6 

10 

18 

34 

r 

7 

7 1 

11 

19 

35 

9 

10 

12 

12 

20 

36 

11 

11 

13 

18 

21 

87 

18 

14 

14 

14 

22 

38 

Ifi 

15 

15 

15 

23 

39 

17 

18 

20 

24 

24 

40 

19 

19 

21 

25 

25 

41 

81 

22 

22 

26 

26 

42 

88 

23 

23 

27 

47 

43 

96 

26 

28 

28 

28 

44 

87 

27 

29 

29 

29 

45 

89 

30 

30 

30 

30 

46 

81 

31 

31 

31 

31 

47 

83 

34 

36 

40 « 

48 

48 

85 

35 

87 

41 

49 

49 

87 

38 

38 

42 

50 

50 

89 

89 

39 

43 

51 

51 

41 

42 

44 

44 

52 

52 

43 

43 

45 

45 

53 

53 

45 

46 

46 

46 

54 

54 

47 

47 

47 

47 

55 

56 

49 

50 

52 

56 

56 

56 

51 

51 

53 

57 

57 

57 

53 

54 

54 

58 

58 

58 

55 

56 

55 

59 , 

59 

59 

67 

58 

60 

60 

60 

60 

59 

59 

61 

61 

61 

61 

61 

62 

62 

62 

62 

62 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 


Here is the secret. When you learn what columns the number is in. simply 
add the numbers at the top of each column and the trick is done. For example, 
say the age is 17; you will find it in the first and fifth column of figures. Add to- 
gether the top figures of each column in which the number is in (see *), and you 
will have the answer. 

HOW TO REMOVE A MAN’S SHIRT WITHOUT TAKING OFF HIS COAT OR VEST. 

The simplest sleight-of-hand illusions are often the cause of more wonderment 
than the most complex or difficult ones. Professional magicians often practice 
some intricately skilful feat for weeks, and. after presenting it to the public, it 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 0 » 

ilcas not make as strong an impression as many o* tue very commonest or oldest 
ones. 

An extraordinary and most laughable feat is that of removing a man’s shirt 
before he is hardly aware of it, and without taking off either his coat or vest. 
To do this successfully requires considerable tact and very quick actions on the 
part of the operator. One professional magician is so expert that he can pro- 
duce this result in fifteen seconds. An amateur should acquire the knack of 
doing it in half a minute. 

Select your subject — not a person of the dude make-up, with a skin-tight suit, 
but some good-natured, every-day sort of a fellow, whose clothing fits him easily. 
Tell him to keep cool. Then, begin your operations in earnest by quickly pull- 
ing off his collar and necktie and unbuttoning his shirt behind. Pull his shirt 
from his trousers, up his back, and with a strong exertion, get it right over his 
head. This is by no means hard. You now have it across his stomach. Loosen 
his sleeves, and, grasping the end of one nearest his hand, pull it off his arm. 
You can do this successfully if he limbers his arms and does not resist some 
rather stretching work on your part. After one arm is freed of the shirt, it is 
easy to remove it from the other. The shirt will then come off, to the astonish- 
ment of all. 

As previously stated, the effect of this trick depends entirely upon your adroit 
ness. It is well to throw a shawl or sheet over the subject’s body when you are 
anout to present this exhibition, that those present may not discover your 
method of operating. 

THE SHOWER OF MONEY. 

The magical phenomenon known under this name surpasses the philosopher’s 
stone, in the pursuit of which so many of the wise men of old expended their 
lives and fortunes. The alchemist’s secret aimed only by producing the raw 
material, but the magician’s quick eye and ready hand gather from space money 
ready coined. Unfortunately, the experiment is subject to the same drawback 
as the more ancient process— ^iz., that each twenty shillings produced cost pre- 
cisely twenty shillings, leaving hardly sufficient profit to make this form of 
money-making renumerative as a commercial undertaking. 

The effect of the trick is as follows: The performer borrows a hat, which he 
holds in his left hand. Turning up his sleeves, he announces that he requires a 
certain number, say ten, dimes or half-dollars. The spectators put their hands 
in their pockets with the idea of contributing to the supposed loan; but the pro- 
fessor, anticipating their intentions, says, “No, thank you; I won’t trouble you 
this time. There seems to be a good deal of money about to-night; I think I will 
help myself. See, here is a half-dollar hanging to the gaselier. Here is another 
climbing up the wall. Here is another just settling on this lady’s hair. Excuse 
me, sir, but you have a half-dollar in your whiskers. Permit me madam; you 
have just placed your foot on another,” arid so on. At each supposed new dis- ‘ 
covery the performer takes with his right hand from some place where there 
clearly was nothing an instant before, a half-dollar, which he drops into the hat 
held in his left hand, finally turning over the hat, and pouring the coins from it, 
to show that there has been “no deception.” 

The explanation is very simple, the trick being merely a practical application 
of “palming,” though its effect depends on the manner and address of the oper- 
ator even more than on his skill in sleight-of hand. The performer provides him- 
self beforehand with ten half-dollars. Of these he palms two in his right hand, 
and the remainder in his left. hen he takes the hat, he holds it in the left 
hand, with the fingers inside and the thumb outside, in which position it is com- 
paratively easy to drop the coins one by one from the hand into the hat. When 
he pretends to see the fust JuUf-doUai: heating in the air, he lets one of the oofal 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


(C 

in his right hand drop into his finger-tips, and, making a clutch at the air, pro 
duces it as if just caught. This first coin he really does drop into the hat, taking 
care that all shall see clearly that he does so. He then goes through a similar 
process with the second; but when the time comes to drop it into the hat, he 
merely pretends to do so, palming the coin quickly in the right hand, and at the 
same moment letting fall into the hat one of the coins concealed in his left hand. 
The audience, hearing the sound, naturally believe it to be occasioned by the 
fall of the coin they have just seen. The process is repeated until the coins in 
the left hand are exhausted. Once more the performer appears to clutch a coin 
from space, and showing for the last time that which has all along been in his 
right hand, tosses into the air, and catches it visibly in the hat. Pouring out the 
coins on a tray, or into the lap of one of the company, he requests that they may 
be counted, when they are found to correspond with the number which he has 
apparently collected from the surrounding atmosphere. 

THE VANISHING GLOVES. 

This is a capital trick with which to commence an entertainment; when com- 
ing, as it should do, unannounced, and before the performance proper has com, 
menced, it has an air of improvisation which greatly enhances its effect, and at 
once awakens the attention of the audience. 

The performer comes forward in full evening dress. While saying a few 
words by way of introduction to his entertainment, he begins to take off his 
gloves, commencing with that on his right hand. As soon as it is fairly off, he 
takes it in the right hand, waves the hand with a careless gesture, and the glove 
is gone. He begins to take off the other, walking as he does so behind his table, 
wherein his wand is laid. The left hand glove being removed, is rolled up into a 
ball, and transferred from the right hand to the left, which is immediately 
closed. The right hand picks up the wand, and with it touches the left, which 
being slowly opened, the second glo^e is found to have also disappeared. 

The disappearance of the first glove is affected by means of a piece of cord 
elastic, attached to the back of the waistcoat, and thence passing down Hie 
sleeve. This should be of such a length as to allow the glove to be drawn down 
and put on the hand, and yet to pull it smartly up the sleeve and out of sight 
when released. It is desirable to have a hem round the wrist of the glove, and 
to pass the elastic through this like the cord of a bag, as it thereby draws the 
wrist portion of the glove together, and causes it to offer less hindrance to its 
passage up the sleeve. Upon taking off the glove, the performer retains it in 
his hand, and lets it go when he pleases. He must, however, take care to 
straighten his arm before letting it slip, as otherwise the elastic will remain 
comparatively slack, and the glove will, instead of disappearing with a flash, 
dangle ignominiously from the coat-cuff. 

The left hand glove is got rid of by palming. The performer, standing behind 
his tables as already mentioned, rolling the glove between his hands, and quick- 
ly twisting the fingers inside, so as to bring it into more manageable form, pre- 
tends to place it in his left hand, but really palms it in his right. He now lowers 
the right hand to pick up his wand, and as the hand reaches the table, drops 
the glove on the servante. He now touches the left hand with the wand, in due 
course opening the hand and showing that the glove has departed. 

THE MIRACULOUS CASKET. 

This is a neat leather or velvet covered box, about three inches by two, 
two and a half high. When opened, it is seen to be filled with a velvet cushion 
or stuffing, after the manner of a ring-case, with four slits, each just large 
enough to admit a half-dollar or dime. By an ingenious mechanical arrange- 
ment in the interior, which it would take too much apace to describe at length. 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


n 


each time the box Is closed one of the coins is made to drop down Into the lower 
part, and on the box being reopened is found to have vanished. 

The casket may be used in many tricks with good effect. In combination 
with the magic glass, it is employed as follows:— The four coins which 
have been substituted for the genuine ones are placed, in sigh* of 
all, in the magic casket, which is then closed, and handed to one of the audience 
to hold. The performer then states that he is about to order the four coins now 
in the casket to pass one by one into the glass upon the table. “One! 1 ’ he ex* 
claims. A coin is heard to fall into the glass. The person who holds the casket 
is requested to open it; three coins only are left. It is again closed, and the 
performer says, “Two!” Again the chink of the falling coin is heard, and 
another coin is found to have disappeared from the casket. The operation is 
repeated till all have vanished, and the operator pours forth from the glass 
four coins, which, on examination, are found to be the same which were origin- 
ally borrowed, and which the audience believe that they saw placed in the 
casket. 

THE FLYING GLASS OF WATER. 

This capital trick was, we believe, first introduced to the public by Colonel 
Stodare, to whom the profession is indebted for many first-class illusions. The 
necessary apparatus consists of a couple of ordinary glass tumblers, exactly 
alike, with an india-rubber cover just fitting the mouth of one of them, and a 
colored handkerchief of silk or cotton made double (i. e., consisting of two simi- 
lar handkerchiefs sewn together at the edges), with a wire ring (of the size of 
the rim of one of the tumblers, or a fraction larger) stitched loosely between 
them, in such a manner that when the handkerchief is spread out the ring shall 
be in the middle. 

The performer, beforehand, nearly fills one of the tumblers with water, and 
then puts on the india-rubber cover, which, fitting closely all round the edge, ef- 
fectually prevents the water escaping. The glass, thus prepared, he places in the 
profonde on his right side. He then brings forward the other glass and a decan- 
ter of water, and the prepared handkerchief, and in full view of the audience fills 
the glass with water up to the same height as he has already filled the one in his 
pocket, and hands round glass and water for inspection. When they are re- 
turned, he places the glass upon the table, a few inches from its hinder edge, and 
standing behind it, covers it with the handkerchief, first spreading out and show- 
ing both sides of the latter, proving, to all appearance, that there is no prepara- 
tion about it. In placing the handkerchief over the glass, he draws it across in 
such a maimer as to bring the hidden ring as exactly as possible over the top of 
the glass. Then placing the left hand over the handkerchief, he raises appar- 
ently, the glass within the handkerchief, but really the empty handkerchief only, 
which is kept distended by the ring, and, at the same time, under cover of the 
'handkerchief, gently lowers the glass of water with the other hand on to the 
servante. This is by no means difficult, as the pretended carefulness of the op- 
erator not to spill the water allows him to make the upward movement of the 
left hand as deliberate as he pleases. All that is really necessary is to take care 
to follow with his eyes the movement of the left hand , which will infallibly draw 
the eyes and minds of the audience in the same direction. Having raised the 
supposed tumbler a height of about two feet from the table, the performer 
brings forward to the audience, and requests that some gentleman with a steady 
hand will favor him with his assistance. A volunteer having been found, and 
having given satisfactory replies as to the steadiness of his nerves, and the 
strength of his constitution generally, is requested to place his hand under the 
handkerchief aud take the glass. As he proceeds to obey, the performer lets go 
of the handkerchief with the left hand, still retaining one corner with the right, 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICES. 


KZ 

and lets the right arm with the handkerchief drop to his side. Pretending to be. 
lieve that the gentleman has taken the glass, and not to notice its disappearance^ 
he turns carelessly aside, and brings forward a small table or chair, saying, 
“Put it here, please.” Locking, generally, somewhat foolish, the victim replies 
that he has not got it. If the performer is a good actor, he may here make 
some fun by pretending to believe that the victim has concealed the glass, and 
pressing him to return it. At last he says, “Well, if you won’t give it to me, I 
must find it for myself,” and he proceeds to tap with his wand the sleeves and 
pockets of the individual, but without success, till, on touching him between the 
shoulders, he pretends to tell by the sound that the glass is there. “Yes, here it 
is,” he remarks, “I am sorry to be obliged to ask you to turn your back on the 
company, but to show them that there is no deception on my part, I am com- 
pelled to do so. Will you please turn round for one minute.” On his doing so, 
the performer, again shaking out the handkerchief, and showing both sides of it 
to prove it empty, spreads it over the back of the victim. Again he taps with his 
wand, which, striking the ring through the handkerchief, causes an unmistake- 
able hard sound to be heard; and then grasping the ring as before through the 
handkerchief, he deliberately raises it up in a horizontal position, the effect be- 
ing as if the glass had again returned to the handkerchief. He then says, “I 
don’t think I will trouble this gentleman again; he is too much a conjuror him- 
self;” then turning rapidly to audience, he says, “Catch, ladies and gentlemen,” 
and “flicks” the handkerchief quickly towards the spectators, who duck heads 
in expectation of a shower. “Pardon me, ladies, I fear I alarm you; but you 
need not have been afraid; I never miss my aim. That gentleman has the glass,” 
(designating any one he pleases). “May I trouble you to step forward one 
moment, sir?” On the person indicated doing so, the performer places him fac- 
ing the audience, and under cover of his body takes the second glass out of the 
profonde, and throws the handkerchief over it, remarking, “Yes, ladies and 
gentlemen, here it is, in this gentleman’s tail pocket.” Then taking hold of the 
glass with the left hand beneath the handkerchief, he clips with the first finger 
and thumb, through the handkerchief, the edge of the india-rubber cover, and 
thus drawing off the cover inside the handkerchief, hands around the glass and 
water for inspection. 

THE RABBIT TRICK. 

The performer comes forward to the audience, and borrows a hac. He asks 
whether it is empty, and is answered that it is; but he, notwithstanding, finds 
something in it, which the owner is requested to take out. The article in ques- 
tion proves to be an egg. No sooner has this been removed, than the performer 
discovers that there is something in the hat, and immediately produces there- 
from a live rabbit, quickly followed by a second. Not knowing what other use 
to make of these, he proposes to pass one of them into the other. The audience; 
decide which is to be the victim, and the performer, placing them side by side on 
the table, proceeds to roll them together, when one is found to have vanished, 
nobody knows when or how; but the theory is that it has been swallowed by the 
remaining rabbit, to the (imaginary) increased fatness of wnich the performer 
draws special attention. 

Having thus passed one rabbit into the other, the next step is to get it out 
again. To do this the performer calls for some bran, and his assistant immedi- 
ately brings forward, and places on a table or chair, a huge glass goblet, twelve 
inches or thereabouts in height, filled to the brim with the commodity. The 
performer takes the borrowed hat, and (after showing that it is empty,) places 
it mouth upwards upon another table, so as to be at some considerable distance 
from the goblet of bran. He then places a brass cover over the glass, first, how- 
ever, taking up and scattering a handful of the bran to prove its genuineness* 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


n 


Taking tke surviving rabbit, and bolding it by the ears above the covered goblet, 
he orders the one swallowed to pass from it into the glass, at the same time 
stroking it down with the disengaged hand, as though to facilitate the process. 
He remarks, “You must excuse the comparative slowness of the operation, 
ladies and gentlemen, but the fact is, the second rabbit passes downwards in an 
impalpable powder, and, if I were not to take sufflcf mt time, we might find that 
a leg or an ear had been omitted in the process, and the restored rabbit would bo 
a cripple for life. I think we are pretty safe by thir time, however. Thank you, 
iBunny; I need not trouble you any more.” So saying, he releases the visible 
rabbit, and taking off the cover the bran is found to have disappeared, and the 
missing rabbit to have taken the place in the goblet; while on turning over the 
borrowed hat the vanished bran pours from it. 

The reader who has duly followed our descriptions of the appliances employed 
In the magic art will have little difficulty in solving the riddle of this trick. The 
performer first comes forward with an egg palmed in one hand, and with a 
gmall rabbit in an inner breast-pocket on each side of his coat. The first step is 
the pretended finding of something ut is not stated what) in the hat. The 
owner is requested to take it out, and while all eyes are naturally turned to see 
what the article may prove to be, the performer, without apparent intention, 
presses the mouth of the hat with both hands to his breast, and tilts one of the 
rabbits into It. This is next produced, and in placing it on the ground at his 
feet, the performer brings the second rabbit in the same manner into the hat. 
■When he undertakes to pass the one rabbit into the other, he places both upon 
the table which contains the rabbit-trap, and, standing sideways to the audience, 
pushes the hindmost, under cover of the other, through the trap. This partic- 
ular rabbit is not again produced, the rabbit in the “bran glass,” being another 
as much like it as possible. It only remains to explain how the bran comes into 
the borrowed hat. This is effected by having a black alapaca bag filled with 
bran in one of the profondes or under the waistcoat of the performer. Then a 
bag is introduced into the hat after the manner of the goblet and the bran hav- 
ing been allowed to run out, the bag is rolled up in the palm, and so removed, 
the bran remaining, to be produced in due course. 

THE CHINESE RINGS. 

These are rings of brass or steel, in diameter from five to nine inches, and in 
thickness varying from a quarter to three-eights of an inch. The effect of the 
trick to the spectator is as follows: The rings are given for examination, and 
found to be solid and separate; but at the will of the operator they are linked 
together in chains of two, three, or more, becoming connected and disconnected 
in a moment, and being continually offered for examination. Finally, after the 
rings have become involved in an apparent inextricable mass, a slight shake 
suffices to disentangle them, and to cause them to fall singly upon the stage. 

The sets of rings sold at the conjuring depots vary in number, varying from 
six to twelve. The set of eight, which is perhaps the most usual number, con- 
sists of one “key” ring, two single rings, and a set of two linked together, and a 
*et of three linked together. The “key” ring, in which lies the secret of the 
^ick, is simply a ring -?ut or opening in it. For use upon a public stage, 

^here the performer is a * ... considerable distance from his audience, there may 
be a gap of an eighth of an inch between the ends, but for drawing-room use, 
they should just touch each other. Some rings are made to “clip” like an ear- 
ring, and some have the opening cut diagonally instead of square, but the 
simple square cut is, in our own opinion, the best. 

We shall in the first place describe the trick as performed with the set of 
eight rings above mentioned. We must premise, however, that the manipulation 


n 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


of the ring's admits of almost infinite variation, and that the practice of 
formers differs greatly as to the mode of working them. 

The performer comes forward holding the eight rings in his left hand, ar- 
ranged as follows: First (t. e., innermost), comes the set of three; then the 
“key” ring (the opening uppermost in the hand), then the set of two; and lastly 
the two single rings. Taking the first of these, he hands it to a spectator for 
examination ; passing it when returned to another person, and carelessly hand- 
ing a second ring to be examined in like manner. This should be done 
without any appearance of haste and with an air of being perfectly indifferent 
as to how many of the rings are examined. The two “singles” having been duly 
inspected, the performer requests some of the spectators to take them both iu 
his right hand, at the same time taking in his own right hand the next two rings, 
which, it will be remembered, are the set of two, though the audience naturally 
believe them to be like the first, separate. 

“Now, sir,” the professor continues, “will you be good enough to link one of 
the rings which you hold into the other.” The person addressed looks more ©r 
less foolish, and finally “gives it up.” “You can’t?” says the performer, in pre- 
tended surprise. “My dear sir, nothing is easier. You have only to do as I do. 
See?” Laying down the rest of the rings, he holds two and makes a gentle 
rubbing motion with the thumb upon the rings, and then lets fall one of them, 
which naturally drops on the other. He now hands these two rings for exam- 
ination. The spectators seek for some joint or opening, but none is found; and, 
meanwhile the performer transfers the next ring (the “key” to his right hand, 
keeping the opening under the thumb. He now takes back with the left hand 
the two single rings, immediately transferring one of them to the right hand, 
and with the ball of the thumb presses it through the opening in the key ring 
into which it falls with ex^ly the same effect as the apparent joining of the 
two linked rings a moment before. Again he separates and again joins the two 
rings. The second single rte» s now made to pass in like manner. 

The performer remarks, “We now have three joined together. Here are three 
more, as you see (shaking those in the left hand), all solid and separate, and yet at 
my will they will join like the others.” Making a rubbing motion with the 
thumb as before, he drops two of the three, one by one from the hand, when 
they will appear as a chain of three. These he hands for examination, taking 
back the set of two, and linking them one after the other into the key ring, to 
which now four rings are attached. Again taking back the set of three, he links 
these also one by one into the key ring, which thus has seven rings inserted in 
it. Using both hands, but always keeping the opening of the key ring under 
one or the other thumb, he now takes off these seven rings, commencing with 
the two single ones and offering them for examination; then taking off the set 
of two. Last of all, he unlinks the set of three, and then holding them at length in 
his left hand, joins the upper one to the key ring, thus making a chain of four, 
of which the key ring is the uppermost. He next takes the lowermost ring ©f 
the four, and links that into the key ring, bringing the four rings into a diamond 
shape. Again unlinking the lower ring, he takes up the set of tw r o, and connects 
them with the key ring, holding them up above it, thus making a chain of six, 
the key ring being third from the top. Taking the upper ring between his 
teeth, he links the two singl. rings into the key ring on either side, making the 
figure of a cross. As the hands are now occupied in holding the single rings 
forming the arms of the cross, he can no longer keep the opening of the key 
ring concealed by the thumb, but it is extremely unlikely that among so many 
rings, so slight a mark in one of them wdll attract notice. Regaining possession 
of the key ring, he links one by one into it. Then, holding the key ring with 
both hands, and with the opening downwards, about a couple of feet from the 
floor, he shakes the rings violently, at the s apjj^ ttiftg gently straining open the 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


7$ 


key ring, when the seven rings will all in succession drop through the slit and 
scatter themselves about the floor, the general impression being that they ail 
fell separate, though the grouped sets, of course, remain still united. 

It is not an uncommon thing to see a performer commit the gaucherie of 
handling all the rings, save only the key ring, to be examined in the first in- 
stance; the key ring being hidden under the breast or under the tail of the coat, 
and being added to the set in returning to the table. The spectators are thus 
needlessly made acquainted with the fact that certain of the rings are already 
'linked together, and this once admitted, the trick loses nine-tenths of its effect. 

THE BIRDCAGES FROM THE HAT. 

^ Not content with cannon-balls, drums, and ladies’ reticules, the public of Idle 
present day require that birdcages and living birds should be produced from an 
{empty hat. 

) The birdcages used vary in their construction. Some are made to fit one with- 
in the other, and are lifted out by the solid and not the loose ends, which fall 
down of their own accord. Those in most general use, however, are about six 
inches in height, by five in breadth and depth. The bottom is made to slide up- 
wards on the upright wires which form the sides. When it is desired to prepare 
the cage for use, a canary is first placed therein, and the bottom is then pushed 
up as far as it will go, the slides, which work on hinges being folded one by one 
upon the bottom, the cage finally assuming a flat shape. It is in this condition 
that the cages, generally three in number, are introduced into the hat, either from 
the servante or from inside the vest of the performer; and in the act of lifting out 
(which is done by the wire loop at top), the sides and bottom falling down, the 
cage becomes full size. Such articles can best be obtained of a regular manu- 
facturer of magical goods. A well-known dealer in magicians’ supplies is Mr. 
C. Milton Chase, who, for many years has been established at 45 Cambridge 
street, Boston. 

THE MAGIC DRUM. 

This is in appearance an ordinary side-drum, but being hung up by cords from 
the ceiling, it will forthwith, without any visible drumsticks, give either a single 
rap or a roll, or keep time to any piece of music. It will further answer questions 
and tell fortunes, indicate chosen cards, etc., after the manner of the magic bell. 

These mysterious effects are produced by two hammers or drumsticks, fixed 
against one end of the drum on the inside. Each of these is attached to the 
keeper of an electro-magnet, but there is a difference in the mode of their work- 
ing. One works after the manner of the bell, giving a single tap whenever con- 
tact is made, but thenceforth remaining silent until the circuit is again broken 
and again completed. In other words, each pressure of the connecting stud pro- 
duces one rap, and no more. The second hammer is differently arranged. By 
means of what is called a “contact-breaker,” the movement of the keeper, when 
attracted by the magnet, of itself breaks the circuit. The circuit being broken, 
the iron is no longer magnetic, and the keeper flies back to its old position, there- 
by once more completing the circuit. As long as the pressure on the stud con- 
tinues, therefore, the circuit is alternately made and broken in rapid succession, 
involving a corresponding movement of the keeper and hammer, and producing 
a “roll” of the drum. The use of the two hammers involves the necessity of the 
two electoral circuits and two connecting studs, and of three cords to suspend 
the drum (one being common to both circuits). With a little practice in the 
management of the two studs, the single rapper may be made to beat time to a 
tune, while the other stud brings in the roll at appropriate intervals. 

There are some drums (of an inferior character) made with one hammer only; 
^ich hammer being arrange/! for the r&lL Where it is desired to give a single 


T6 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


rap, this may be effected by pressing and instantly releasing the stud with a 
light, quick touch: but some little dexterity is required. 

In the case of all these appliances for magically answering questions, it is nec- 
essary that the assistant who has the control of the apparatus should be in such 
a position as to distinctly hear the questions asked. In fortune-telling matters 
the answer may generally be left to his own discretion; but for indicating what 
card is chosen, etc., it is necessary either that an agreed card be forced, or that 
a carefully arranged code of verbal signals should be employed, whereby the 
form of the question may itself indicate the proper answer. Considerable fun 
may be caused by the magician selecting an evidently “engaged” couple, and 
after asking how many months it will be before they are married, etc., inquiring, 
in a stage whisper, how many children they are destined to be blest with. The 
drum raps steadily up to (say) five, and this is accepted as the answer, when, 
after a moment’s pause, two more raps are heard in quick succession. This 
alarming omen is received with general laughter, amid which the drum gives 
another rap, and then another, continuing until the performer, scandalized at its 
behavior, unhooks it from the cords, and carries it, still rapping, off the stage. 
The last effect is wholly independent of electricity, being produced by the per- 
former tapping with his fingers that one end of the drum which for the time be- 
ing is farthest from the audience. 

There are some few other tricks performed by the aid of electricity, but any 
one who understands the principle of those above described may make a very 
shrewd guess at the working of the remainder. All tricks of this class, though 
ingenious and effective, are open to one or two serious objections. In the first 
place, the apparatus is very costly, and secondly, they are unpleasantly liable 
from the nicety of their mechanism and the absolute necessity of perfect electri- 
cal connection in all their parts, to hang fire at the critical moment, and leave the 
operator in a very embarrassing position. Imagine the feelings of a performer 
who, having just introduced his wonderful drum, which is to display unheard-of 
oracular powers, finds that the instrument remains as mute as the celebrated 
harp of Tara’s hall, and refuses to bear out in the smallest degree, his grandilo- 
quent assertions. Y et this unpleasant result may occur at any time from the sim- 
ple breaking of a wire, or some even slighter cause. This, it appears to us, is a seri- 
ous drawback to the electrical tricks, though where they are exhibited at their 
best illusions are more beautiful, or have more of genuine magic about them. 

We should mention, before quitting the subject of these tricks, that in order to 
avoid the trouble and expense of fixing the necessary conducting wires in a 
building not especially appropriated to magical performances, an upright brass 
rod (which may be detached at pleasure,) is sometimes fitted on each side of the 
performer's table, and the apparatus in use (drum, bell, cash-box, etc.) is sus- 
pended by appropriate cords between these rods. The conducting wires are con- 
nected within the table with the lower ends of the brass uprights, and thence pass 
down its hinder legs to the battery behind the scenes. There are many consider- 
ations of convenience in favor of this arrangement, but the tricks performed are 
less effective than where the apparatus is hung fairly from the ceiling, and ap- 
parently out of all possible reach of mechanical influence. 

CHINESE MARBLE TRICK. 

Some years ago, there came over to America a few Chinese conjurers, who 
were seen by the public but very little, but who favored me on several occasions 
with private views. Their skill lay chiefly in the performance of such delectable 
feats as swallowing sword-blades, tiny china cups, glass balls, and large leaden 
plummets. Although appreciating such tricks, I respectfully declined attempt- 
ing to astonish my audiences by their means. There was, however, one little 
trick performed with four small marbles which struck me as being something 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


1 * 

quite noT«fl and quaint. Of the four marbles (little ivory balls are what I invari- 
ably use), one is concealed in the fingers, as in the cup and ball trick, unknown, 
of course, to the audience, who are supposed to know of the existence of three 
only. These three the performer puts into his mouth — one at a time, slowly, is 
the beet way — to show that there is “no deception.” He now forms his left hand 
into a fist, and holds it steadily in front of him, thumb upwards, as though hold- 
ing a sword at rest. With the right hand he pretends to take a marble from the 
mouth, the concealed one being exhibited. The action of taking a marble from 
the mouth must be imitated exactly; and this is best done by rolling it along the 
lips until it travels from the roots of the fingers to their tips. The sleight must 
be quickly done, for the eyes of the audience are full upon the hand. Place the 
marble on the top of the left hand, i. e., on the doubled-up first finger, which, 
after a few seconds, open slightly, so as to allow the marble to disappear in the 
hand. With the right hand actually take a marble from the mouth, which will 
now contain two. Pretend to place this marble on the left hand, as you did the 
first one, but in reality conceal it. When the left hand is momentarily covered 
with the right, as it feigns to place a marble upon it, open the first finger, and, 
with the least possible jerk, bring the first marble again to the top. The audi- 
ence will think that marble No. 1 is in the hand and marble No. 2 atop. After 
another short pause, allow the marble to again sink in the hand, thereby causing 
the idea that two marbles are concealed in it, and, with the right hand, affect to 
take another marble from the mouth, the concealed one being, of course, shown. 
Ostensibly, place this one on the left hand (deception as before), and allow it to 
disappear like its two supposed predecessors. At this stage, the state of affairs 
will be thus:— The right hand, presumably empty, contains one marble; the left 
hand contains presumably three, but in reality only one marble; the mouth, pre- 
sumably empty, contains two marbles. The performer then proceeds as follows: 
Allow the marble in the left hand to sink until it is in the position for concealing 
at the roots of the fingers. If with the tips of the second or third fingers it can 
be pressed firmly home, so much the better, for the command to vanish can at 
once be given, and the hand opened— palm downw r ards, of course. If the marble 
cannot be secured in this way, the thumb must be brought into use in the usual 
way; but the hand must be waved about a little so as to cover the movement. 
The three marbles are now supposed to be non est. The performer can proceed 
to find the first of them in whatever manner he pleases. He may pretend to pick 
it from the table cloth, break it from the end of his wand, or find it in the pos- 
session of one of the audience; how, is quite immaterial. As each hand conceals 
a marble, it is also immaterial which one is used. This first marble is placed on 
the table, and another one found. This second one, instead of placing on the 
table, the performer affects to pass into his ear, concealing it as before, and after 
a few seconds, it appears at his lips, the one thence protruding being, of course, 
one of the two concealed in the mouth. Allow it to fall from the mouth, and 
then proceed to find the third marble, which pass, say, through the top of thej 
head. The remaining marble in the mouth is then exhibited, and the three wan- 
derers are recovered. If the marbles or ivory balls are not small, their presence 
In the mouth, when they are not supposed to be there, will be discovered. I al- 
ways conceal one on each side of the mouth, between the lower gums and the 
cheek. Ivory balls are in every way preferable, as they do not strike eold to the 
teeth, and do not, rattle much, both of which disagreeable properties are pos- 
sessed by marbles. Any ivory-tuner will supply the little balls very cheaply. 
The performer must study to execute this trick with the greatest possible deli- 
cacy, or— especially before ladies— it will become repulsive. The method of 
finding the balls after vanishing them should be varied, each one being found in 
a different way. The portion of the trick reauiring the most practice is that ta 


rs 


MISCELLANEOUS tRICKS. 


which the left hand is opened. The knack of concealing the ball held tn ft wn 
observed requires some little address. 

THE AERIAL SUSPENSION. 

There is a famous trick known as the “aerial suspension,” said to have been In- 
vented by the noted M. Robert Houdin. It consists of producing the effect of a 
person apparently lying horizontally in the air, from an upright pole, without 
any other means of support. The trick has been performed most artistically by 
Hermann. The secret consists of a harness like arrangement which fits tightly 
to the body of the person who is to be thus placed, which connects with appara- 
tus in the pole (which is of iron) ; connections being formed, by a mechanical ar- 
rangement the body is lifted from a standing to horizontal position. The 
machinery and appliances cost from forty dollars upwards and can be procured 
of manufacturers of such wares. 

FIRE-EATING. 

This was another trick performed remarkably well by my Chinese. It is, I 
should think, one of the best-known in England, for every country fair has 
itslflre-eater; but it is not everyone who knows how it is performed. In the first 
place prepare some thick, soft string, by either boiling or soaking it in a solu- 
tion of nitre (saltpetre). Take a piece, from one inch to two inches in length, 
and, after lighting it, wrap it in a piece of tow as large as an ordinary walnut. 
Conceal this piece under a heap of loose tow, the whole of which is put on a 
plate, and so exhibited to the audience. The string will burn very slowly in- 
deed, and the very little smoke issuing from it will be quite smothered by the 
tow. Show the mouth empty, and then put a little tow into it. Commence 
chewing this, and, after a little time, put in some more. Repeat this three or 
four times, taking the chewed portion secretly away each time you put any 
fresh tow into the mouth, and in one of the bunches include the piece containing 
the burning string. Do not chew this about at all, in reality, although you will 
make great gestures as if so doing. Take a fan, and fan the ears, and presently 
take in a good breath at the nostrils, blowing it out at the mouth. This will 
cause some smoke to be ejected, the volume of which will increase as the breath- 
ings are kept up. Always be careful to draw in at the nostrils, and eject at the 
mouth; otherwise you will be choked. Renew the fannings (merely for effect), 
and, by continued breathings, the tow in the mdrth will be brought into a glow 
and one or two sparks will issue from the mouth. When this has continued 
sufficiently long, take in more tow, and so smother the burning string again, ex- 
tracting the piece containing it undercover of a loose bunch. There need be no 
fear of burning the mouth, as, directly it is closed, the light becomes a mere 
spark. The trick causes great effect, not to say alarm on many occasions. 

A very pretty and laughable termination to the above trick is to pass, unper- 
ceived, into the mouth (under cover of a piece of tow, as usual) a little ball com- 
posed of a long band of colored paper, about half an inch or so wide. Take this 
by the end, and draw it out through the teeth. Tightly rolled up, a ball may 
contain several yards of paper. It should be composed of three or four different 
colors, in lengths, each pasted to the other, for there must be no break. The 
end should have a piece of cotton attached to it, or it will be next to impossible 
to find it in the mouth. The cotton will adhere to some portion of the mouth, 
and so be easily found. These balls of paper are supplied at all conjuring shops,' 
as is also an article known as the barber’s pole. This consists of a spiral of 
paper, which shirts up into a very small compass, but assumes a great length on 
being merely twisted. A long pole appears to come out of the performer* 
mouth. 

THE BUTTERFLY TRICK. 

Invisible at a short distance, verj fine silk and hair are invaluable adjuncts to 


MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS. 


79 


the conjurer’s repertory, both in the drawing-room and on the stage. The cele- 
brated and fascinating Japanese butterfly trick is performed with the aid of a 
piece of fine black silk or horsehair. The former is, in my opinion, immeasur- 
ably the superior of the two. Hair is most difficult to manipulate, from its springy 
nature, and requires a great deal of coaxing before it will condescend to be tied 
in a knot. In the butterfly trick, the performer sustains one or more butterflies, 
made from rice (or tissue) paper, in the air, by means of the current caused by 
the motions of a fan. When this trick was first brought out, “all the world 
wondered,” for no one, even after long practice, could keep the paper butterfly 
hovering in a given space for a single moment. I tremble to think of the num-1 
ber of fans I destroyed in my early days over this trick, before I knew the secret’ 
of it. The fan used should be a very strong and large one, of the old shape — not: 
the circular— and be composed of paper and wood only, so as to be free from« 
superfluous weight. Affixed to the top waistcoat button, or any other conve-f 
nient spot, have from three feet to four feet of the finest black silk floss or hair, 
with a knot at the free end. Have, also, a piece of crisp tissue (or rice) paper, \ 
and a pair of scissors. Let the audience examine the paper, and then proceed 
to cut out the rough form of a butterfly, explaining your action as you go on, 
giving the center a twist or two, for the double purpose of forming a body to 
the insect, and concealing the knotted end of the silk or hair, which it is as well 
to have between the fingers before commencing operations, as it is not allow- 
able to grope about for it in view of the audience. When finished, the butterfly's 
wings should have the appearance of being three parts extended, and should be 
slightly concave from beneath. A little care bestowed on its formation will be 
repaid by an increased steadiness when in the air. When all is ready, hold the 
butterfly in the air at the full stretch of the connecting medium, and fan pretty 
briskly with the other hand, not immediately underneath the paper, but from 
the body, and along the silk or hair, which must always be kept at a stretch, or 
nearly so, or control over the butterfly will be lost. 

Notwithstanding the aid of a connecting medium, there is more skill required 
to perform this trick really neatly than is generally supposed. After a time, 
practice will enable the performer to cause the butterfly to settle on a flower or 
on the edge of another fan, and also to sustain two in the air at one time, which 
has a very pretty effect indeed. When two butterflies are used, it will be found 
almost necessary to have two fans, one in each hand, and each insect must, of 
course, have a separate thread. Some use wax at the end of the connecting 
medium, but this is a bad plan, as it deters the performer from giving round the 
butterfly to be examined after performing the trick. Whilst cutting out and 
twisting up the paper, it is as well to call attention to the fact that the trick is 
performed by some people with the aid of a thread — an assistance which you 
will say you utterly despise, as will be perceived. This will totally disarm thosa 
people who may have bought the trick (it is sold universally), and are yet only 
tyros at performing it. 

There is a second method, in which two butterflies are joined by a thread or 
hair a few inches long. These do not require to be attached to the performer’s 
person, the partnership being sufficient to enable him to keep them in mid-air. 

Speaking of the Chinese, it is a most noticeable thing that their methods of 
vanishing and concealing articles are the same as those practised by ourselves, 
which fully demonstrates the fact that there is only one proper way; for there is 
only one thing more highly improbable than that we learnt the minutiae of the 
art of conjuring, practised by us for centuries, from the Chinese, and that is that 
the Chinese learnt from us. It is only during the present century that we have 
been sufficiently familiar with the Chinese to borrow their ideas on magic, did 
i re wish to do so. 


HAT TRICKS 


CHAPTER XV. 

TRICKS WITH HATS. 

ON SKILL. 

One of the most taking of all the tricks performed by the many public exhibi- 
tors is that in which a hat is borrowed from the audience, and at once from ite in- 
terior are produced a quantity of heterogeneous articles, the nature and number 
of which cause, not only the greatest merriment, but also the most unbounded 
' astonishment that they should ever have found lodgment in so unsuitable a re- 
.ceptacle as an ordinary ‘'chimney-pot” hat. The reader will hardly require to be 
told that every article which is produced from the hat has first to be introduced 
into it by the performer, and on the skill with which this is done will the success 
of the trick depend. It must be understood that there is no middle degree of 
perfection allowed in performing this trick. No one must be able to say, “Yes; 
he got them in pretty well that time — I hardly noticed him.” The motion which 
accompanies the introduction of any article or articles into a hat must be abso- 
lutely unobserved by any one of the audience. No extraordinary degree of 
speed is required, for success will depend more upon the completeness of the ar- 
rangements made by the performer for the accomplishment of his designs than 
upon mere rapidity of movement, which, as I have often explained, is by itself 
of no use whatever, it being impossible for the human hand to make any move- 
ment openly so rapidly that it cannot be followed by the human eye. The ob- 
ject of the performer being to introduce certain articles into a hat without de- 
tection, anything falling below this accomplishment is imperfect; but, at the 
same time, anything which goes beyond this in a striving to obtain an ideal per- 
fection is useless, and results in a mere waste of energy. 

The essence of the trick being that it is (apparently, at least) performed for 
the most part whilst surrounded by the audience, the articles to be produced 
must be chiefly such as can be concealed about the performer’s person. Of such 
a nature, the reader will doubtless be astonished to find, are, when properly con- 
structed, birdcages containing live birds, quantities of ladies’ reticules, lighted 
Chinese lanterns, and many other articles entirely at variance with any possibly 
preconceived notions of what might ordinarily be contained in a hat. The be- 
ginner, however, will have to commence with less startling productions than 
birdcages, &c., and graduate in the art, as it were. 

THE CANNON-BALL. 

One of the commonest articles which it is still the fashion to^iroduce from a 
hat is a cannon-ball, or, rather, the wooden semblance of one. This is in- 
troduced from the shelf, which is provided with little hollows for the reception 
of such unstable articles. It has a deep hole, just large enough to admit the mid- 
dle finger, and is so disposed that a hand placing a hat momentarily, brim down- 
wards, on the back edge of the table would be able to introduce the finger with- 
out difficulty. The finger firmly inserted, the hat is drawn off, and, naturally 
falling backwards, covers the ball, which is furthermore curled into the hat by 
means of the finger. If the ball were solid and made of any heavier material 
than wood, this would not be possible of accomplishment. The usual method is 
to have two cannon-balls, one a hollow one of zinc, blackened, with a hole about 
two inches across made in it. This hole is covered by means of a sliding lid, 
which lid has a smaller hole in it for the introduction of the middle finger. The 
Dali is filled with articles, almost invariably purchases made at a baby linen 
warehouse, which are produced, with all possible effect, one by one, before the 
Vail itself. Sometimes the ball is packed as tightly as possible with feathers, in 
which ca*e a veay larg» Woduced, a small pinch from the bal 


ft AT TRTCKS . 


to 

aiitficing to apparently fill the hat, which should be exhibited, ostensibly full, to 
the audience every now and then. If feathers are used, a large cloth should be 
spread upon the floor, or there will be a sad litter. 

The introduction of the cannon-ball must not, however, form the commence- 
ment of the trick, but follow on something else in which a hat has been required. 
It would never do to borrow a hat and straightway march with it to the table, 
there to execute divers entirely unnecessary movements. Under such circum- 
stances, the audience would be surprised if something were not produced from 
■the hat. There are many tricks mentioned in which a hat is used. Whilst the 
result of one of such tricks is being exhibited with one hand, the other can easily 
introduce the cannon-ball, without fear of detection, if the performer’s manner 
leads the attention elsewhere. The ball safely in the hat, the performer steps 
briskly forward to return the borrowed article, and, just as he is about to put it 
into the owner’s hand, he makes a slight start, saying, “I did not notice it before, 
sir, but there is a little something just at the bottom of your hat. What is it? 
Something belonging to your little girl, I presume— a pair of socks,” &c. The 
articles are then deposited on a chair or side table, and a motion made of return- 
ing the hat when, “a little something else” is noticed. The ball being by this 
time worked round in the hat so that the opening is concealed from view, the 
hat can be exhibited with the ball sticking inside. After remarking that it is a 
very extraordinary thing to carry in a hat, and surmising therefrom that the in- 
fant to whom the clothes just discovered belong must be a “Woolwich infant,” 
great, but unvailing, efforts are made to extract the ball. In order to make it 
appear to stick in the hat (which sticking makes its presence there at all seem 
all the more inexplicable), invert the hat, and introduce a forefinger from each 
hand beneath the ball. The whole can be then well jerked two or three times. 
It is at length got out by the assistance of your attendant, who is directed to 
give it to the gentleman to put in his waistcoat pocket. For the sake of effect 
he staggers towards the audience, but the performer recalls him, saying that he 
will send on the articles by parcel delivery. Whilst this is being done, the 
wooden ball is got inside the hat, which is once more carried down towards the 
owner. The discovery of more contents is made, as before, and the performer 
remarks that had he known that the owner of the hat carried a complete arsenal 
about with him he would have borrowed someone else’s hat. The hat is jerked 
as before, and at the third or fourth attempt the ball is allowed to drop on the 
stage. This will confirm the idea in the audience that the first ball was solid, 
should there, by chance, be any wavering on the point. 

The only objection to this really very effective phase of the trick is, that it has 
been done so often; the consequence is that so many, anticipating correctly 
that which is about to come, are better able to divine the means by which 
it is accomplished. The best way to guard against this is to introduce the 
features at unusual moments, taking advantage of any favorable circumstancB 
ar opportunity that may casually transpire. 

THE DISTRIBUTION. 

' The gratuitous distribution of bonbons, flowers, &c., from a bat is, owing to 
fbe expense entailed, hardly such a favorite variation of this trick with profes- 
sionals as with amateurs— that is, with those very few amateurs who are able to 
execute it with any degree of success. It requires an unusual amount of san§ 
froid and boldness, combined with a perfect dexterity. When I can obtain 
nothing else, I use bonbons, but they are not the best article to employ, on ac- 
count of their bulk. The sweets known as “kisses”— pieces of toffee wrapped 
in gold and silver paper— and gelatine bags of sweets are far more showy, as so 
many more can be introduced at a “load.” The performer must have either 
some black silk bags or else some piec es ^f black silk, in which the articles are 


§2 


HAT TRICKS. 


packed and tied with the thinnest cotton or silk, which need only be just strong 
enough to keep all together. Three or four little parcels should be made up and 
stowed away inside the vest and in the breast pockets of the coat, where they 
can be reached without difficulty. The performer then advances, with an orange 
or similar article concealed in the hand, and borrows a hat. The hat is quickly 
taken in the hand containing the orange, and shaken, with the remark, “Why, 
you have left something inside, sir.” The shaking to prevent the article falling 
on the crown of the hat with a thud, which would too plainly reveal the moment 
of its introduction into the hat, which is then inverted, thereby causing whatever 
may be inside to fall out upon the floor. All eyes, including more particularly 
your own, will be turned towards it, and you seize the opportunity to introduce one 
of your packages into the hat. The action of stooping to see what it is that has 
fallen will naturally cause the hat in the hand to come against the breast. 
The other hand is then introduced beneath it, and the bundle slipped noiselessly 
in. The instant this is done, obtain possession of the orange, and be as funny as 
you can about it with the owner of the hat. You then discover other things in 
the hat, and just before one bundle is exhausted introduce another. The most 
extraordinary expedients will at times have to be resorted to for accomplishing 
this, vary according to the position in which the performer is placed. One 
movement that should always be tried is a rapid three-quarter turn on the heel, 
during which a bag is whipped in. Another ruse is to allow the wand or some 
of the contents of the hat to fall, and so obtain a momentary diversion whilst 
stooping for them. Any approach to hesitation will be fatal. When a fresh 
supply has been obtained, turn the hat upside down, supporting the contents 
with the fingers, and, shake it, thus appearing to show it empty. A splendid 
ruse to adopt at such a moment, in order to intimate that the hat is still empty, 
is to apparently read out the name of the maker (which you have previously 
noted), and say that you will go to him in future for your hats. Should there be 
no name, say you are sorry, as you wanted to know where such curious hats are 
to be bought. 

The introduction of flowers from the performer’s person is not advisable, it be- 
ing impossible to keep them from being crushed. They are best introduced from 
the shelf, and for this purpose the following little arrangement will be found 
useful: Procure a tin or zinc cylinder, about two inches in diameter, and two 
inches long. Around the outside of this have affixed a number of small 
cylinders, each capable of admitting the stalk of a flower. Such an article will 
hold some thirty flowers at least, or even tiny ‘ ’button holes” can be employed. 
Round the cylinder pass some wire, a portion of which form into a loop. The 
whole arrangement can then be suspended at the back edge of the table, or be- 
hind a suitable chair. By having some packs of cards introduced into the hat 
in the first instance, an excuse for going to the table or chair is obtained. Packs 
of cards make a great show when the hat is tossed vigorously about, so that 
some of the contents fly in the air and out on the floor. The last few can be 
taken out by the hand and thrown in the air in such a manner as to flutter as 
much as possible between the audience and the hat, which is, at the same time, 
brought into the position favorable for gett»g the flowers into it. The wire loop 
is easily found by the fingers, and, on the hat being brought backwards, when 
the table is used (forwards, with the chair), the bouquet is easily introduced,' 
The cylinder arrangement is often made much larger than two inches each way, 
but no very increased effect is thereby obtained— certainly not sufficient to com- 
pensate for the augmented difficulty in getting rid of the article after it is done 
with. When made of the size I have given, it is simply concealed in the hand, a& 
are the bags or pieces of silk in which the cards, &c., have been wrapped. 

THE SHOWER OF CUPS. 

Amongst other things, a favorite production from hats is ah enormous quantity 


J ftA?TKfCK8. 


et tin cups, very similar to those used in the cup and waft trick described ia 
‘‘Drawing-room Magic,” but much larger. These cups, being all of the same 
taper, fit well one into the other, and, being also very thin, a large number can 
be well put together without forming a very formidable pile. Fifty is a very 
common number to introduce into a hat at one “load.” The upper rim is turned 
over outwards, to give the cup a look of great solidity, and the bottoms are 
fairly thick, for strength. They should be wrapped in silk, and the inside cup 
filled tightly with ribbons or cut paper, or anything else that will make a great 
show when distributed. The performer then walks about the stage tossing the 
cups out of the hat -with great rapidity on to the floor, occasionally placing a few 
on the table upside down. A dozen or so on a table make a good show, and they 
are also useful for concealing the bags and silk used previously for containing 
.other articles. Spread out a few in the hat now and again and show it thus filled. 
Wery few will suffice to fill a hat to the brim. These cups are, perhaps, bes* 
purchased at conjuring apparatus houses, their manufacture not being univer 
sally understood. 

MULTIPLYING BALLS. 

These, which are by some persons considered even more effective than the 
cups, can be made, for the most part, at home, with a little expenditure of en- 
genuity and trouble. They consist of an ordinary cloth ball covering, with an 
extraordinary interior, consisting, as it does, of a tapering spiral spring. Al- 
though I have succeeded in producing springs of the required shape by twisting 
wire round a peg top; I cannot conscientiously recommend anyone else to adopt 
a similar method of proceeding. A professed wire- worker would do the thing 
much more satisfactorily in every way. The covering is a very easy matter, 
and any one of the weaker sex may be confidently entrusted with it. Six of 
these balls, when pressed tightly together and tied with cotton, take up only a 
very little more than the space that would be occupied by a single ordinary ball. 
Eighteen, or more, in batches of six, can be introduced at one time if tied up in 
silk. The cotton of one batch being broken, the hat will be entirely filled, and 
the process can be repeated, the hat being each time shown to the audience in a 
replete condition. A tray should be at hand on which to place the balls, great 
care being necessary to prevent any of them falling to the floor, which would at 
once reveal their unreal nature. When the balls are used, as is not unusual, in 
conjunction with the cups— that is to say, either immediately preceding or fol- 
lowing them— it is advisable to have an ordinary stuffed cloth ball, exactly re> 
sembling the multipliers, inside the inner cup. This ball is allowed to fall an4, 
roll towards the audience (accidentally, of course!), -who will require no admoni- 
tion to examine it. The balls can also be made to multiply in the hands. For 
this purpose, take one bundle and spin it high in the air (be sure to spin it well), 
and, catching it as it descends, give it a sharp twist, to break the cotton. As the 
balls will all suddenly expand, the hands must be held very hollow and kept close 
to the breast, against which they should be sustained. Another method is to 
break the cotton, but prevent their bursting out, and, holding up the hand con- 
taining them, with the back towards the audience, roll the balls into view, 
one by one, by means of the other hand. These effects are both good, butenust 
^ be done with dash. 

Both the cups and balls are best got into the hat from the shelf. The safest 
way to get them is, in the first instance, to introduce the cards into the hat. 
which, after shaking about, empty on the table with a bang. A favorable op- 
portunity for introducing anything is thus made. Some conjurers have an arm 
protruding at the back of the table, on which bundles of cups, balls, <£c., are sue 
pended, and got into the hat by means of a sweep of that article. This is an ok< 
ceBenfc method, when the performer does not make a bad shot, and sweep t is® 


*4 


BAT TRICKS. 


whole on the floor instead of into the hat. Bringing the hat round the end of the 
table, and, tipping things into it from the corner of the shelf, is a method in use 
but it is a bad one. 

BUNDLE OF FIREWOOD. 

Immediately after the taking out of a dozen or two of halls or tin cups, the 
performer may, if his previous arrangements tend thereto, proceed to extract 
from the hat a common bundle of firewood, which, the company may see, en- 
tirely fills the interior of the hat by itself. As, subsequent to the extraction of 
the balls, the performer has not even retreated to the stage, the company cannot 
but be at an utter loss to account for the presence of so ponderous a body. 
The bundle of wood is, however, far from being what it seems. That portion of it, j 
the exterior, which is visible to the company, is genuine enough, being firewood, 1 
but this is only an outer layer glued upon a cylindrical shape of thick pasteboard, ' 
bound round, so as to look real, with a piece of string taken from a genuine 
bundle of wood. The bundle has only one end, made, of course, of pasteboard 
also, and covered with half -inch lengths of wood, which will present a perfectly 
real appearance. Into the open end are crammed the cups, balls, or other 
articles, which, being produced, enable the performer to subsequently extract 
the supposed bundle of wood without having refilled the hat. Some bundles are 
made with both ends covered, one end having a trap opening in it. This is to 
prevent the possibility of the unreal nature of the article becoming known; but 
I really do not see why both ends should ever be exposed; and, with the end per- 
fectly open, the extraction of articles is very much facilitated. The bundle 
must, of course, be introduced into the hat from the shelf, it being too decidedly 
bulky to carry about the person. 

RETICULES. 

A quantity of these articles are sometimes produced from a hat. They are, as 
may be imagined, far from being the substantial objects they represent. The 
ends fall inwards and lie flat on the bottom, to which they are hinged by means 
of calico, and the tops, sides, and bottom are hinged together also by means of 
calico, and -so double up. A piece of cord, tape, or thin leather strap runs 
through two holes, about an inch apart, in the top, the ends being affixed to the 
ends of the reticule, inside. A pull at the center of this cord, &c., raises the ends, 
which force the other portions into position. The outside is covered with cloth, 
ind otherwise decorated to represent a small reticule. I have seen them made 
i)f playing cards without any outer covering whatever. The result was, that the 
'tudience saw through the whole thing at once, as was but natural. A dozen or 
more of these reticules can be introduced at once, and they make a good show. 
They can be easily made from playing cards, and afterwards covered. 

DOLLS. 

Calico dolls, with spiral springs inside, can also be effectively employed. A 
tolerably large one, introduced into the cannon-ball with the baby’s clothes, is 
6ff active when produced last of all. In any case they should not be less than six 
Inches in height. The face and greater portion of the dress must be painted on. 
a few little bows artfully disposed, serving to make the doll look as substantial 
is possible. 

BIRD-CAGES. 

This is a trick which ranks almost as high in public estimation— the only gauge 
ly-the-by, by which conjuring tricks can be measured— as the gold-fish trick. 
?he same principal feature— the production of a substantial article, containing 
trim? thines. from such unsuspected regions as the interior of a hat. or the folds 


EAT TRICKS. 


85 


ef a handkerchief— is in both, and the audience is, in each instance, in the same 
dilemma in endeavoring to explain where the article comes from, and how the 
living creatures get into it. It may sound like exaggeration to assert that two 
substantial cages, six inches high, each containing two live canaries or other 
birds, can be produced from a hat from one “load,” but such can be done, never- 
theless. The cages are of wire at the top and on the sides, the bottom being 
solid and heavy. The sides are hinged to the top, under which they fold, when 
the bottom, which slides up and down the sides, is pushed up. The top being 
domed, the birds are safe therein, not as comfortable, perhaps, as they might be, 
but still unhurt. The bottom pushed up and the sides doubled under, the whole 
is scarcely two inches in depth; and two cages, placed bottom to bottom, and 
kept together by means of an elastic band or by a thread, can be got into the 
hat from the coat breast-pocket in the prescribed manner. To produce them, it, 
is only necessary to raise the upper portion, by means of the ring there affixed, 1 
and the bottom will run down into its place, causing the sides to go into their 
positions. These cages are also produced from handkerchiefs, in which case it 
is usual to have them of very large dimensions. Herrmann produced one at 
times which had to be concealed up his back, so large was it. This was pro- 
duced, without detection, in the very centre of the audience. 


CHINESE-LANTERNS. 

The production of six or more of these articles, all ablaze, from a borrowed 
hat, causes an effect not far from astonishing. The well-known collapsible 
nature of the articles would render the production of a number of them from a 
hat a matter of no great marvel were they unprovided with a light. What can- 
not be readily explained is the feature of so many lanterns being alight in the 
hat at one time without burning either the hat or one another, or indeed, how 
the} 7 can all be alight at one time at all. The secret lies in the constructon of the 
bottoms of these lanterns, and the positions of the candle or wick holders. The 
bottoms are made of tin, and on one only of each series of lanterns is the candle 
holder placed in the center. This lantern I will call No. 1. No. 2 has the holder 
a little on one side, and a hole through its center to admit of the candle or wick 
of No. 1 passing through it. No. 3 has two holes, corresponding exactly with the 
candle holders of Nos. 1 and 2, which pass through its bottom, and its holder is 
at the side of the hole through which the holder of No. 2 passes. No. 4 has three 
holes. No. 5 four holes, and so on all through the series, which generally consists 
of seven or eight, that number being about as many as can well be managed 
at one time. As the holder of No. 1 has to pass through the bottoms of the re- 
maining seven lanterns, it must, of course, be very long. The holder of No. 2 
will be a little shorter, and the next shorter still, that of No. 8 being of the or- 
dinary length. By this means all the wicks will be on the same level when the 
lanterns are packed together. The tin bottoms do away with any danger of a 
flare up, and also, from their weight, cause the lamps to open easily, which is of 
great assistance towards the success of the trick. The upper rims are also of 
tin, for strength and security. A few sulphur matches, which strike noiselessly, 
should be affixed to the upper rims of the topmost lantern, whereon should also 
be some sandpaper, on which to strike the matches. The whole should be tied 
together with string, and concealed in the breast pocket, from whence they can 
be introduced into a hat in the midst of the audience. The match struck, the 
wicks are all lighted almost simultaneously; and, the flames burning the 
string, the performer is enabled to take out the lanterns in rapid succession by 
means of a bent piece of wire affixed to the rim of each. An attendant should 
be at hand with a pole or broomstick, on which to hang the lanterns. A deep 
round hat is better than a “chimney-pot,” the extreme deptb of which som& 
times causes the performer to burah^fjn^efli^ 


HAT TRICKS. 


60 

This trick is well worthy the attention of amateurs, as it Is but little worked, 
the majority of performers being frightened at it, but without any reasonable 
cause. Any tinman will make the plates and rims cheaply, and the paper sides 
can be taken from the ordinary lanterns and transferred, so that the trick need 
not be an expensive one, by any means. An excellent title for it is “A Chinese 
Feast of Lanterns.” Always remember to hold the hat as high as possible when 
it contains anything: premature disclosures of the contents mar the effect eon* 
vderafely. 


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